birding-aus

Re: Recent Ruff Sighting - An apology

To: <>
Subject: Re: Recent Ruff Sighting - An apology
From: Simon Mustoe <>
Date: Sat, 16 Jan 2010 09:13:28 +0000
Hi,

There are two issues here and we'd do well to separate them.

- First is the general behaviour of birders. Birders should clearly act with 
some sensitivity for the environment.
- Second is whether or not we should report sightings.

The question is not about whether disturbance happens or not, it is whether the 
costs of reporting sightings and the consequent disturbance to birds at a given 
site, outweigh the benefits of birding and the increased enjoyment, 
conservation value and awareness, that this brings to Australia in general.

These days, locations like Pitt Town Lagoon are seriously
threatened by climate change, deforestation, land use change,
residential development, hydrological modification etc etc etc. The changes are 
all around you and even when you're not visiting Pitt Town Lagoon, you are 
having an impact on the site. The Australian environment suffers because it is 
not valued by the Australian community. Birders are unique in that they value 
the environment but because we are cliquey, 'high and mighty' and offensive to 
outsiders (even those perceived to be outsiders within the birding community 
e.g. twitchers!) we alienate visitors and limit the value added that birding 
could bring to Australian society and conservation in general. This is why we 
have such a pitifully small birding community for a population of over 20 
million people.

We should not be too over-zealous about limiting disturbance (i.e. not 
reporting sightings), or we lose benefits that are far greater.

These points raised by Mark and Mandy are very important. However, on another 
note related to other recent posts, can I just say personally, that the attacks 
on 'twitchers' by Australian birders on this forum are tiresome and grossly 
offensive.

Regards,

Simon Mustoe.





> Date: Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:15:03 +1000
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Re: Recent Ruff Sighting - An apology
> From: 
> To: ; 
>
> Hi Mark,
>
> I'd like to echo the other comments here that you did nothing wrong.  I
> occasionally won't report nesting records of threatened species due to
> concern over disturbance, but for vagrants and rarities the additional
> information gained by people observing and reporting these species is quite
> valuable.  I think it would be good for people to stop and think about
> potential issues before reporting things, but please don't let the poor
> behavior of a very small section of the birding community dissuade you from
> letting people know about great birds like Ruff.
>
> Regards,
> Chris
> ===============================
> www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to: 
> ===============================

_________________________________________________________________
We want to hear all your funny, exciting and crazy Hotmail stories. Tell us now
http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/195013117/direct/01/==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com

To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 
=============================
<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU