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I'm a birder from Iowa and I've been up to view and photograph (but I'm not one of THEM) birds twice this winter and am returning one more time this weekend. I'm almost afraid to bring my camera with me!! I've found it amusing while reading all the messages on this list the past few months. I was unaware of how many experts there are in Minnesota when it comes to birding ethics, photography ethics, owling ethics, etc!! Have any of you done any studies on the impact of these activities on the birds or are you just expressing your own expert opinions based on, well, based on whatever information you base them on? I'm also surprised you haven't strung up the banders by their boot laces yet! If a birder taking a photo of an owl from 15 feet away is so detrimental to the bird, how can it be OK to catch these birds in a net, handle them, put undo stress on them, take their blood and feathers, then strap a piece of metal on their leg? Maybe it's just a matter of time before you get tired of complaining about the bad birders and photographers and need someone new to complain about!! Sorry banders. I'm planning on having a great time this weekend birding and photographing. If anybody happens to see me doing something unethical, please stop and do something about it, instead of letting it happen then announcing how bad it is to the list after the fact. Good birding.... Jay Gilliam Norwalk, IA ----------MailBlocks_8C6F3C2DB48056C_CB4_44B9_mblk-r17.sysops.aol.com Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" <HTML><BODY><DIV style='font-family: "Verdana"; font-size: 10pt;'><DIV>I'm a birder from Iowa and I've been up to view and photograph (but I'm not one of THEM) birds twice this winter and am returning one more time this weekend. I'm almost afraid to bring my camera with me!!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I've found it amusing while reading all the messages on this list the past few months. I was unaware of how many experts there are in Minnesota when it comes to birding ethics, photography ethics, owling ethics, etc!! Have any of you done any studies on the impact of these activities on the birds or are you just expressing your own expert opinions based on, well, based on whatever information you base them on?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'm also surprised you haven't strung up the banders by their boot laces yet! If a birder taking a photo of an owl from 15 feet away is so detrimental to the bird, how can it be OK to catch these birds in a net, handle them, put undo stress on them, take their blood and feathers, then strap a piece of metal on their leg? Maybe it's just a matter of time before you get tired of complaining about the bad birders and photographers and need someone new to complain about!! Sorry banders.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I'm planning on having a great time this weekend birding and photographing. If anybody happens to see me doing something unethical, please stop and do something about it, instead of letting it happen then announcing how bad it is to the list after the fact. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Good birding....</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Jay Gilliam</DIV> <DIV>Norwalk, IA </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML> ----------MailBlocks_8C6F3C2DB48056C_CB4_44B9_mblk-r17.sysops.aol.com--
