This isn't confined RARE birds, winter listers also seem to be getting
into the act but .... This is getting ridiculous, from the Eurasian
Tree Sparrow to the Brambling, or a Cattle Egret visible from a public
road and now the owner of a residence near Bailieboro, where a
Townsend's Solitaire spends most of its time "has had enough of you
people!"
Clearly some birders are behaving badly.
Granted birds aren't always easy to find, see or photograph. It can very
difficult even impossible to view a bird without obtrusively looking
directly at a house. Regardless you cannot trespass, ignore "No
Trespassing" signs, walk up a driveway to within a few metres of a house
in order to obtain photographs, crawl along fencelines or search
backyards without explicit permission from the property owner.
I remind you the Ontario Field Ornithologists' sponsors of Ontbirds
expect all birders and readers of Ontbirds to behave in a responsible
manner and pay due attention to OFO's Code of Ethics. If there are
constraints on how a bird can be viewed or relocated, they should be
clearly stated when reporting the bird. If a bird cannot be viewed
without violating our Code of Ethics then the bird should not be
reported. It's that simple.
If we don't clean up our act, eventually someone else will do it for us.
We don't want that.
Please read our Code of Ethics and follow them to the best of your
ability. The code can be found online at
http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/aboutus.ethics
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Mark Cranford
ONTBIRDS Coordinator
Mississauga, ON
[email protected]
905 279 9576
_______________________________________________
ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial
birding organization.
Send bird reports to [email protected]
For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit
http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup
Posting guidelines can be found at
http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide
