Cannon netting of waders

[Tom Tarrant <>]

G'day David and Birding 'Ausers!
Firstly I must apologize for my dig at the 'House Crow' messages, I'm sure
that their presence is welcome to birders who are desperate for a long-awaited
'lifer', having personally having visited India and Nepal, I found them actually
adding to the atmosphere of those countries and couldn't imagine racing off
to tick them in Australia anymore than I would for a Northern Pintail in
NSW. But that is not too say I wouldn't chase a Red-chested Buttonquail or
Scarlet-chested Parrot (Tony please note!)
Just wanted do say that as a member of the QWSG, I have no problem with the
valuable research that is achieved by the group, most members do far more
valuable work than myself. I was just questioning the value of canon-netting
and bird-banding as a research tool, in 1997 I witnessed some banding in
Taman Negara in Malaysia and will gladly show you my video-recording of it....I'm
sure most birders would find it rather difficult to watch (Bill Oddie did!)
 Around a decade ago I attended a canon-netting  near Fishermans Island and
was horrified to find that as the nets were fired the tide was coming in
so fast that there was a danger of birds being drowned, and on release several
were killed by predatory species, unfortunately it has made me question the
value of canon-netting (not the valuable research that most birders do!)
Also I didn't intend to say that 'monthly counts' etc were boring, (I was referring to habitat-destruction and over-population)
Hope that's cleared the air, has anyone seen an Asian Dowitcher in eastern Australia this year?
Tom
Samsonvale, Qld
Andrew Geering wrote:

I think some of Tom Tarrant's veiled criticisms of the wader study groups are unwarranted (who else could he be speaking about?  No one else in Australia has a permit to cannon net waders).  The QWSG has not cannon netted for a couple of years, and is not likely to do so in the forseeable future.  However, the group has remained extremely active, doing such "boring" activities as running a monthly count program, lobbying to save roost sites such as those at Manly and Dux Creek, doing comprehensive surveys of the Great Sandy Straits (data used for Ramsar nomination) and the Gulf of Carpentaria, running workshops and monthly field id days, producing educational signs for sites such as Boondall and Karumba, participating in various environmental managment committees, and the list goes on and on.  The same can be said about the AWSG.  Two of our members have been on the AWSG excecutive, and they have literally spent hundreds of voluntary hours working towards habitat protection etc.  One has to look no further than page 1 of yesterdays Weekend Australian to see some of the results of the AWSG work.  Amanda Hodge cites AWSG data - the 90% decline in shorebirds in the Coorong.  Cannon netting is the highest profile activitiy of the wader study groups, as it makes good television viewing, but it is by no means their sole activity, nor even the most important priority.