Methinks Kym Bennet with one T doth protest too much.
Regarding those "constant personal attacks", wasn't it Mr Bennet with one T
who originally referred to banders as "maniacs", denigrated their
motivations and ridiculed the results of their research? I would add as a
caveat, however, that I have seen far worse personal attacks on birding-aus
perpetrated by Kym's anti-banding "friends".
Which brings me to my next (and original) point. It seems odd to me that
these mysterious folk seem to be otherwise unknown in a birding community as
small as Australia's. My guess is that Kym is one of several fictitious
identities on birding-aus maintained in order to promote the illusion of
more widespread public anger against bird banding.
Finally, I am not a bander. I have never participated in a banding program
(although I have been on countless pelagic trips off Wollongong where I
watched SOSSA's albatross banding program in action). I don't feel the need
to defend it - others are better qualified than I to do that - but I will
stick up for the merits of research and data over the guesswork,
speculation, and occasionally plain loopy outbursts that characterise the
contributions of this group.
No doubt those who have been on birding-aus for years have heard all this
before; however, there are others who are new to the list, new to birding,
and who should be made aware of the ruse. Otherwise perhaps Russell could
add an eighth rule to the list against annoying unnecessary repetition of
clapped-out topics?
Cheers, AS
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