Or feeding birds. See
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article3927291.ece
On 14/05/2008, at 5:36 PM, Ian May wrote:
Hi All
How many of us would not be here if our parents believed in "the
precautionary principle". LOL
Seriously though, if impacts from twitching causes such alarm within
our fraternity, how do we justify and condone cannon netting and leg
flagging waders?
Regards
Ian
Lawrie Conole wrote:
This conversation seems to have morphed (as they inevitably do)
from a
discussion about birding ethics to a Salem twitch trial! Speaking
as a
naturalist/birder/ornithologist/ecologist/etc. who keeps life lists
(and
therefore, *ipso facto*, you can add part-time twitcher to that
list), I've
seen plenty of thoughtless behaviour by birders in my 30+ years of
birding -
and only some of that by twitchers. By this I mean things such as
inappropriate activity around nests, too many visits to other
sensitive
locations, overuse of call playback, lack of discretion about who
you tell
where the Red Goshawk nest is, and so on ... a kind of universal
disregard
for, or lack of awareness of, the precautionary principle.
If twitchers turn up to a spot, look at the 'tick' for a few
seconds and
then nick off, but do nothing else destructive, then surely the only
consequential outcome is a contribution to atmospheric carbon
levels (and an
indirect impact on the biota in the long term - much like the
impact most of
us have by lighting and heating our homes, etc.) ... and perhaps a
rise in
the blood pressure of those who see twitching as the devil's work.
If a keen birder visits a nest site twice a day for a week and
drives the
parents away, causing nesting failure, then the direct consequence is
obvious. No twitching involved, necessarily.
Twitchers or birders, pure as the driven snow or otherwise, please
heed
Stuart's original and completely legitimate message to behave
*thoughtfully
and ethically *when you're out there.
Twitching isn't the real issue - birders behaving badly, whether
twitching
or not, is.
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