So women don't twitch or stamp collect???
John Tongue
Ulverstone, Tas.
On 04/11/2009, at 5:26 AM, Denise Goodfellow wrote:
I'd be interested in seeing Laurie's research. I've some US papers
that
mention this as well.
I've twice, in 26 years, been guiding birders who have either entered
private property or gone into sensitive habitat. The last one, a
woman just
a few months ago, entered a preschool grounds after a bird. A few
have been
disgruntled when I refused to play tapes to call up birds in
particular
areas.
The biggest issue in the Top End that I'm aware of is birders
entering the
sewage ponds without a permit, resulting in management becoming very
upset
to the point of threatening to arrest them. Consequently, access to
the
ponds has been further tightened.
However, in my experience up here, combat or gonzo birders (as they're
called in the US) tend to put themselves at risk more than the
birds, for
instance insisting on going out when it's very hot and humid. Two,
whom I
refused to accompany one stinking hot afternoon, later collapsed
with heat
exhaustion.
The desire to systematise eg by stamp collecting or twitching, seems
to be a
feature of the male brain according to research I've read.
Denise
Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow
PO Box 3460 NT 0832, AUSTRALIA
Ph. 61 08 89 328306
Mobile: 04 386 50 835
Birdwatching and Indigenous tourism consultant
PhD Candidate
http://www.denisegoodfellow.com.au
http://www.earthfoot.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/baby-dreaming
http://www.ausbird.com
http://birderstravel.com
http://www.theloveofood.com (Rowan Goodfellow Thompson)
on 3/11/09 9:40 PM, Chris Sanderson at
wrote:
Hi Tim,
I believe in the UK a small number of rare birds have died from
constant
harassment leading to an inability to feed to recover from a long
trip.
This is possibly what Peter is referring to? Also I hear from
various
sources of cases where twitchers (usually identity unknown) have been
observed by landholders to tresspass to look for birds. This still
appears
to be a sadly common occurrence, though as you say, its not fair to
tar all
twitchers with that brush as I know many who wouldn't enter a
property
without permission. However those that do give all birders, not just
twitchers, a bad name with the general public.
I will say this though, a recent study by our own Dr Laurie Knight
showed
that the more fanatical a twitcher is, the less they care about
conservation. That's hard data from a fairly broad survey there (I
hope
I've paraphrased your work correctly there Laurie, feel free to
jump in if
I'm misquoting).
As for earlier questions about collectors, I'd love to hear from
someone in
the customs department, but I know for a fact they are still
finding living
animals being smuggled, and I have little doubt that the same would
go for
dead animals - there are a lot of people for whom collecting skins/
specimens
is akin to stamp collecting (or pokemon for the younger people out
there
reading this...gotta catch em all). Look no further than our own
official
bodies - out there looking to collect one or several of the newly
found
Spotted Quail-Thrush in Far North QLD before they even know if its
a new
species or even how many there are in the population...
Back to the point at hand. I thought the objection was over GPS
co-ordinates being given in an open online forum. A general
location in the
email with an offer of directions offline would be fine I would
think, as
suggested by an earlier poster. At least that means someone
wanting to
break the law has to leave evidence in the form of an email if they
want the
details.
Regards,
Chris
On Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 6:06 PM, Tim Jones <>
wrote:
Peter,
What do the 'fanatical Twitchers' do? I reckon this is mostly just
sensationalised hearsay. I see so much prattle about the terrible
harm they
do, but I have yet to see a properly substantiated report of
something which
has had any serious effect on wildlife and I've been on many, many
'fanatical twitches' in my time.
There are a few people who go a bit too far in their pursuit, but
most
'fanatical twitchers' are also fanatical conservationists and also
want
future generations to share their joy of seeing wonderful places and
wonderful wildlife.
I just wish people would get things in proportion. This kind of
statement
tars us all with the same brush and just gets us all a bad name.
NB I'm not arguing about the need to be judicious with information.
Cheers
Tim
From:
To: ;
Subject: Re: [SPAM] [Birding-Aus] Australian Painted Snipe in Dubbo
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 11:28:29 +1100
CC: ;
Hi Peter, my main concern was the Painted Snipe, and yes I do
believe
that
there are people who would take a Painted Snipe for their
collection. Its
no
different than collecting feathers a subject that as been discussed
recently
on this forum. Collecting feathers appears to be a harmless
pastime on
the
surface but you can imagine someone who as all the feathers of
all the
parrot species except for the Night Parrot. I could easily see
such a
person
trying to find out where to find one and going out and shooting
it to get
the feather.You only have to see what some of the fanatical
Twitchers get
up
to at times to understand the need to be alert to whom you give
information
to. Thankfully it is only a small minority that are involved in
such
behaviour.
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