Minnesota Birders and Al: Can someone inform who are these "good ol birdin guys" or these "elite birders" that prevent other birders from not wanting to share bird sightings or first state records to the listserv? Who are these guys????
I been involve in many Minnesota birding groups since I was in high school and I have to say that the Minnesota birding community is not a bunch of mean birders. Yes we have debates on the listservs and yes there are people that do not get along but what state do not have these issues? Wisconsin is no different than Minnesota when it comes to issues and flames on the listserv. Just a few weeks ago Wisconsin birders were blasting some guy who was upset that a certain well known digiscoper was posting links to his photos. Every listserv from time to time has lively debates and some can get ugly and usually the moderator steps in to stop it. Also I never heard that MOURC only accepts photos for first state records. There is no rule to first state records except take good notes, attempt a drawing and if you have a camera, try to get a photo. Also I been guiding or leading field trips for a long time and I have a cardinal rule that leaders should not start up political topics nor should leaders get involve in political topics. Leaders of bird trips should be out looking for birds by sight and sound. They are to get people on to birds and inform people on identification marks of the birds they are viewing. Since this trip that Al led was a MOU sponsor trip, I have to wonder if asking these questions like "so what do you all think of MOURC?" or " so what do you all think of the Minnesota birding community" and " ol those good ol boys in the birding community really upset me, what do you all think about these "good ol guys" or elites?" Was this a birding trip last weekend or a gripe session? I still want to know who the birding elites are in Minnesota? Is it bad to be labled a "elite birder" and also who are these "good ol boys" in the Minnesota birding community because I been hearing about these guys for sometime and I never met them in all my years birding in Minnesota. About the this first state potential first state record -- well it will not be the last bird that was seen by someone that goes unpublished or not reviewed by MOURC and I am sure large states like Texas and California have their fair share of bird sightings that do not get reviewed by thier own state record committees. Yes I remember my first record I submitted to MOURC back in 1983 or so and it was nerve racking process at first but I did my best to write it up the sighting and submit it to MOURC. Yes it was approved but then again I had 2 records rejected in the past as well and you know what? I still sleep at night and the rejections do not bother me at all, even to this day!! Even the people who sit on MOURC had their records rejected one time or another and I am sure they do not carry a grudge against those who rejected their sighting. It happens and you got to have thick skin about the voting process. YES there are probably some records birders submitted to MOURC that were rejected that may of been a correct sighting but your rare bird sighting is as only good as your notes, sketch or clarity of the photo. Everyone is equal in the record process and also this notion that only bird records accepted are only by birders who are close friends to those who sit on the records committee is not correct and that is just a bunch of crap!! Everyone had a sighting rejected at one time or another. Minnesota birding community is a great birding community and like I said every state has thier issues. I guide people from other states and they told me how much they love Minnesota and the birders they met. These visitors are even impressed on how nice we are about sharing bird sightings and they are equally impressed on how other bird guides call each other on their cell phones to share bird information with each other!! You do not see bird guides in Arizona sharing bird sightings with other bird guides!! So all in all Minnesota is a GREAT birding community and also has a GREAT bird organization == the MOU! Good birding Mike Hendrickson Duluth, Minnesota Website: http://webpages.charter.net/mmhendrickson/ Blog: http://colderbythelakebirding.blogspot.com/ ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
