I was happy this was posted as we all need to do our part and be smart. Today at and around our feeder on a 15 minute watch, this is what came by to call: A pair of bustits, a Cassin’s finch, Downy woodpecker, 20+ juncos, at least 100 robins drinking water on the street, a red breasted nuthatch at the suet, with a white breasted nuthatch on the ash trunk nearby, a blue jay, two northern flickers, about ten house sparrows and about ten house finches, three black capped chickadees, and one black capped chickadee that looked like he had gotten a weird mohawk haircut (!) These are all random acts of joy right at home! That is not to say I won’t go out birding, alone or with my husband. Be safe and be well,
Libby Edwards Northwest Fort Collins Larimer Country > On Mar 20, 2020, at 7:49 AM, 'Allison Hilf' via Colorado Birds > <[email protected]> wrote: > > I’m hearing via Facebook and birding listservs that a lot of people are > getting out into the woods for birding, which seems like an excellent plan > for social distancing, but the devil is in the details. Many parks, wildlife > refuges, and other wonderful places have closed their facilities, including > their restrooms, for the duration. If the bathrooms are closed, it is very > bad, in every hygienic sense, for multiple people to be "using" the woods. > When even a small percentage of people have bathroom emergencies while > enjoying a park with closed facilities, it can be a serious problem. That is > a big, and valid, reason why many parks are closed altogether. > > Some birders have expressed outrage that their favorite birding spots are > closed, and some have even boasted about parking and getting around or under > entrance gates on foot. But very few people have the knowledge and carry the > supplies to deal with their waste hygienically under normal conditions, much > less when we’re in the middle of a health emergency. Imagine being the > employees who will return after weeks or months, to clean up after scofflaws. > When our favorite birding spots are closed, we need to make the best of it. > > Dr. Peter Crosson, a birder and a medical doctor, wrote an extremely valuable > post to a Massachusetts birding listserv, and he’s generously given me > permission to quote it. He wrote: > In my non-birding day job I'm a physician, bracing for the ramping up of > COVID cases and the horrifying specter of lives lost to this disease. > It's become abundantly clear that this is a disease that needs to be beaten > on the public health front, not at the bedside. As a member of a wonderful, > vibrant birding community, with many birders "of a certain age," I feel the > need to speak up a bit about our responsibilities to each other and to the > country as a whole. > As we've all heard, social distancing is key, and birding can be a wonderful > form of social distancing. However, it's not social distancing when you are > riding in the car with other birders who don't live with you. It's not social > distancing when you are clustering in groups, and certainly not when you are > sharing optics such as scopes. > Anyone of us can be exposed to the virus through asymptomatic friends, so to > restrict yourself to hanging out with people who have no symptoms is not > enough. Since this began, I have gone birding once with another person. We > met at the site, having come in separate cars. We kept 6 feet distance > between us at all times, and did not share any optics. If you are not > following procedures like that, you're not social distancing. It's also > obviously important at more popular sites to avoid touching handrails that > other people could be touching, as the virus can live on surfaces for up to > three to five days. Frequent handwashing and use of at least 60% > alcohol-based hand sanitizer is also crucial. > It discourages me when I look on eBird and see multiple people reporting the > same group checklist from a site. Maybe I am wrong, and they are all arriving > in separate cars and keeping distance between themselves, but I doubt that's > the case. We are at a tipping point in this crisis, and as an educated and > caring group we need to commit to doing everything we can to stop COVID-19. > If we lose one member of our birding community because of this virus, it will > be a tragedy. Make no mistake, if we do not change our behavior, that is near > certain. > Dr. Peter Crosson > It’s so hard to be dealing with this sudden massive disruption in our daily > lives. Those of us who love birding are of course disappointed to be cutting > back our activities right during the most thrilling time of year—spring > migration, when we see so many wonderful birds when we can visit lots of > habitat. Backyard birding may not be anywhere near as thrilling, but this is > a time to appreciate tiny joys as we can. And building up a yard list has > plenty of joys of its own. The more seriously we take social distancing now, > the more of us will be able to get back into our favorite old birding > practices next spring. > > Good SAFE birding, > Allison Hilf > Aurora, CO > > Sent from my iPad > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/2D4036FD-8BCA-4AFB-8650-D7FF7D03E619%40me.com. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/F42175A7-49B2-489B-BEFF-8DB940E007B4%40gmail.com.
