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
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