Ho Jeesis. I agree with Ms. Engelmann and Ms. Brown, but ... Rebecca Field wrote:
> Just curious. Would this law apply to duck hunters using their duck calls? > If so, that is a large, organized group that might like to chime in on this > issue. No, it is only about owls, a species with greater habitat threats that is sensitive to disturbances in their daily activities as well. I had not seen Fr. Paul weigh in on this. Seems like MOU-NET has very limited rules and exchanges like this are proscribed by them (sorry I’m breaking them, too). Read them here: http://moumn.org/listservice.html You report about your birding experiences, birding opportunities in MN, you ask questions about birds and birding in MN, and little else. I guess a certain amount of commercialism is tolerated, but only if accompanying observations of birds in MN. Seems like a guide could get around the new regulation by becoming a part of ongoing scientific research. It could be argued that anyone who reports sightings of owls here is a part of an ongoing scientific research. Although the Minnesota Ornithologists Union is a corporation that provides a way of gathering some data on birds throughout the state through the reporting of birders who participate, it is not directly a part of any ongoing state or federal research permit that I know of. Have to go another route, I guess. Mike and other guides who feel they will be affected by this new law adversely might seek out partners in zoology departments who want to study a given area’s ecology, sampling many different populations of predator and prey and conducting research projects with state or federal permits as provided for in the law. Owls are pretty tough, along with a few other species, for this poor birder. I saw my first when I started raising pigeons, racing homers; it was a Great Horned Owl. I guess I was baiting hawks and owls indirectly, but that wasn’t my aim. It was pretty cool seeing it, though, and knowing why it was there. My other owl sightings were not so easy, usually in the dim light of a thick tree canopy; sometimes it took more than one visit to an area I knew one was there to identify it, with a plan to be in the right place at the right time. It never occurred to me to bait them, although if I could imitate a call or had a good recording, I might have used it at some point; I wouldn’t do it today, however, because I think it disrupts a creature’s life for little else than my enjoyment. I live next to a school parking lot that is used every day (Sunday, Methodists use it and walk catty-corner to their church for two services), so I know what disruption is like. All the folks are a little annoying, but the folks going to church are the most inconsiderate. I can tune the disturbances out, though, but if they found some noise that brought me out of my house for an involuntary look-see, I hope the Legislature would do something about it. I don’t have a problem with the legislation. Back to lurking and never posting about my limited birding these days (you folks do it for me, until I can get out and do more). ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
