Hello Andrew
A very nice and heartfelt post. Good on you. One thing we can do is
emphasise and applaud worthy behaviour. I went birding in the Mary Valley
this weekend with a friend who is very keen on wildlife photography. He
refused to photograph a nesting Black-faced cuckoo-shrike near his home
because he was not convinced he could take the shot without disturbing or
endangering the bird and brood. It would have made a nice shot too!
The sign of a good birder is that he or she always puts the welfare of the
bird and its habitat before his or her ticklist or personal desires. And
you don't have to go far to find good birders these days.
Cheers
Andrew Thelander
Author of "Last Birds"
Web site: http://www.bewrite.net
Blog: http://last-birds.blogspot.com/
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Andrew Stafford
Sent: Sunday, 17 January 2010 9:29 PM
To:
Subject: birding ethics, and birding attitudes
Many of the people on this list are relatively new to birding. I don't
actually think "naming and shaming" those that make mistakes of the kind
witnessed by Mark is going to do very much to prevent poor birding behaviour
in the future. It might help release some angst, but I query its usefulness
as a re-education tool. Rather than work ourselves into a foaming lather,
maybe we could remind ourselves: we are all birders of one kind of another,
most of us do care about the environment of which our birds and other native
animals are a part, and demonstrate the way things should be done by example
and through civilised discussion. That to me is a kind of good contagious
virus.
Could we please take a step back from all this self-righteousness. I am not
seeking to defend anyone who causes harm to a bird's welfare by their
actions and I understand the frustration and anger that causes, but making
outcasts of people who should be our friends won't solve the problem. We
ought to be trying to find ways of encouraging more people to take up
birding in a way that gives them the maximum amount of enjoyment while
causing the minimum possible disruption to the environment. A prevailing
attitude of moralistic high-handedness is no way to achieve that goal.
Andrew Stafford
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www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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