What bothers me about Mark's encounter with the police is that Airport Road
that runs between the back runways of the Duluth Airport and the mim. security
prison facility is a public road. During the initial time when the snowy owl
was reported here a few years back, birders were able to pull off on the
shoulder and watch the owl. Than the security people at the prison got antsy so
they erected "No Parking" signs along the shoulder.
The prison has cameras all along the road. No matter what you do, the security
people will approach you and ask you to leave, even if you are standing on a
public road. Your best place to search for the owl is to park at the Federal
Express parking lot and scan from there or the back parking lot behind the NRRI
building. Any place outside of these two areas will be cause for alarm for
these mullet wearing security guards. ( I had an encounter with one of them and
he had a perfect Joe Dirt mullet!!)
Since 911 many birders are losing places to bird not because of any wrong
actions by us but because they are sensitive places. For example: sewage ponds,
airports, prisons and even the grain elevator areas in the Duluth harbor. I
tried to reason with the security guard at the prison but he was instructed by
the warden to remove people from the Airport Rd even though our cars were
parked at the Federal Express building.
I still remember the good times when birders could roam the Duluth Harbor,
visit the Shakopee sewage ponds, Moorehead sewage ponds, Luverne sewage ponds,
Duluth Airport, Superior Landfill in Wisconsin and many other locations without
being shooed away by police, security guards or the employees.
Mike Hendrickson
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