Sorry to detract from the normally excellent bird information on this list but, unfortunately, I have become compelled to share a recent situation that happened at my house. Over the past weekend a group of birders found their way to the back of my property. I awoke with my wife and children to begin our day. I looked into my backyard and found people with scopes and binoculars peering over my back fence towards my house and windows. My family and I feel violated.
My children and wife should not have to worry about people with optics looking into our backyard and windows. I came to find out that my neighbor used ebird (for their first time ever) to report a bird and they did not disclose their address on ebird with their observation. We have speculated that these really hard core expert bird watchers must have done a "google" search on the name to locate the address and then trampled around the adjacent public parcel the next morning to locate their quarry. Why do something like this? Is it really an enjoyable bird observation? Will my neighbor ever use ebird again after this first experience? While I am not sure exactly what transpired, ebird is supposed to be a data source for science and if I or somebody in my neighborhood submit observations it is not an invitation to conduct a search and surveillance on a private residence. I am appalled that bird watchers would believe this to be acceptable behavior. Further, they photographed or digi-scoped portions of my house and posted it on ebird. What other photos could they have from that morning? Probably nothing, but it is not enjoyable to think about the potential. This is on the verge of criminal behavior in my opinion. It invades my family's reasonable expectation of privacy. These ace birders may need to be trained on how to use ebird in a mature and science driven manner. Or maybe ebird should have obligatory training for its users about who has access to data that is submitted and what people may potentially / actually do with it. Again, sorry to detract from the otherwise good bird info being shared here. I needed to notify the people involved to let them know that their behavior was intrusive and unwelcome; I was only able to speak to one of the individuals face to face. I these people are likely to monitor this list and get my message given their adept use of the Internet. Chase Cammarota Babylon -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
