Hello, Sharon: Don't keep us in suspense: what groups were represented in this meeting? Val Cunningham St. Paul, Minn.
on 12/15/04 9:21 PM, Sharon Stiteler at [email protected] wrote: > I attended a very exciting meeting today that's part of an effort on several > groups to make the Sax Zim Bog area more birder friendly. One of the issues > that has been brought up, especially for this year are some of the dangerous > viewing situations that are happening on the roads. People that work and > live in the community are asking birders to pull off completely to the sides > of roads. There have been a few instances in the last month of more than > one vehicle stopped in the middle of the streets blocking traffic both ways. > There was also a day when several cars were stopped just on the other side > of a hill and oncoming traffic couldn't see the birders until they were on > top of the hill and very close to hitting them. > > This has been a problem with vehicles with Minnesota plates as well as out > of state plates. As many of us have websites promoting the owls and where > to see them, and we are getting posts from people watching our lists from > out of state, perhaps we can give them friendly reminders to practice > vehicular and pedestrian safety. Maybe we can even include a friendly > reminder on the Duluth and State Wide Hot Lines. Locals also pointed out > that some people who live in the area travel very fast down the roads and > with the icy conditions and accident is more likely to occur. > > Another request for this year is that since so many owls are being seen all > over the area, avoid stopping and pulling over on 133 and 52 as these are > the roads used most often by locals. There are some pull off and parking > areas on theses roads and locals assure that many great grays can be seen > from these parking areas. Also please avoid setting up scopes in the middle > of these particular roads. The trees really are dripping with owls so you > will see them on some of the less traveled roads. > > Of course we saw 19 great grays in the area, 1 northern hawk owl and 1 > barred owl and a flock of pine grosbeaks.
