Re: ADMIN: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Scouting party or wrecking crew?

2018-08-11 Thread David Nicosia 
I would also add a MERLIN flushed a lot of shorebirds out of KM marsh on
Friday and that is why the RUFF ended up at Benning. Plus we had a
PEREGRINE FALCON today also flushing a lot of birds of which many returned
back to their original places.

On Sat, Aug 11, 2018 at 7:09 PM Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes <
c...@cornell.edu> wrote:

> Dave K, et. al.,
>
> First, let me state that I was not a participant of either of these trips,
> and am only responding with my eList administrator hat on. While I don’t
> doubt some frustration that may have been felt by you or others in having
> missed the Ruff on Friday or Saturday, it is not uncommon for field leaders
> to have authorized or planned scouting trips ahead of schedule field trips.
> That being said, it is not okay to publicly call out people in this way,
> especially as identified by *religion*. Please be respectful of your
> fellow birders on this eList!
>
> If you were to take a moment to review the eBird checklists from the
> morning of the scouting trip as compared to morning of the planned field
> trip, you will see very little variation in the species and abundance, with
> the exception of the following (Species Name #Friday AM vs #Saturday AM):
>
> Wood Duck 50 vs 5
> Gadwall 0 vs 5
> Mallard 150 vs 100 (estimated)
> American Black Duck 1 vs 0
> Green-winged Teal 20 vs 12
> Great Egret 35 vs 1
> Green Heron 1 vs 45
> Black-crowned Night-Heron 4 vs 25
> Common Gallinule 6 vs 1
> Sandhill Crane 3 vs 11
> Semipalmated Plover 50 vs 55
> Killdeer 25 vs 15
> RUFF 1 vs 0
> Stilt Sandpiper 1 vs 2
> Least Sandpiper 100 vs 75
> White-rumped Sandpiper 2 vs 1
> Pectoral Sandpiper 50 vs 25 (estimated)
> Peep sp. 0 vs 100 (estimated)
> Greater Yellowlegs 3 vs 6
> Lesser Yellowlegs 75 vs 150 (estimated)
> Ring-billed Gull 28 vs 45 (estimated)
>
> Here are the two eBird checklists these numbers were pulled from:
>
> Friday morning: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S47759874
>
> Saturday morning: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S47787278
>
>
> If one were to look at the other aspect affecting species mix and numbers,
> i.e., *the* *weather*, you will see that there was the passage of a cold
> front producing favorable migration conditions on the morning of the 10th
> (the day of the scouting trip) through the late evening of the 10th (the
> night before the field trip). It would not be unexpected to see the species
> mix and numbers become affected by the passage of this cold front. Given
> the time of year and the turnover of numbers of species, I’m not surprised,
> and daily variation is to be expected. It is highly unlikely that the
> scouting trip on the morning of the 10th caused this kind of turnover.
>
> It has been claimed that repeated human traffic near mudflat habitat would
> cause fewer shorebirds to use or return to that space; however, it has been
> arguably demonstrated that once mudflat-using shorebirds are exposed to
> daily routines of humans and nearby cars traveling on dikes, those
> mudflat-using shorebirds will become accustomed to and less skittish of
> humans or cars near them. Please note, this is not the same thing as the
> impact that humans can have upon coastal beachfront-using migratory
> shorebirds—that’s a completely different habitat type and scenario.
>
> In the future, if there are any concerns or complaints associated with
> other birders or their activities, please either contact them directly
> off-list, or reach out to me in private first, and not to the entire
> Cayugabirds-L eList community of 930 subscribers.
>
> Thank you!
>
> Sincerely,
> Chris T-H
>
> Listowner, Cayugabirds-L
> Ithaca, NY
>
>
>
> On Aug 11, 2018, at 5:17 PM, Dave K  wrote:
>
> A group of the usuals (minus one plus an Amish guy) went on a 'scouting
> trip' at Knox-Marcellus on Friday preceding Saturdays 'Public Walk'.
> Of course, they flushed many of the birds, pushing them away from the
> dikes and some, including the Ruff, out of the area.
> How could any right minded person think this scouting adventure would have
> a positive impact on so many who waited until the scheduled time Saturday
> morning.
> I've only seen reports from one scout so I don't know if any of the others
> even bothered to show up today. But hey., they got theirs, right?
> Today's participants deserved better.
> So elitist and exclusionary.
> --
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> Chris Tessa

ADMIN: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Scouting party or wrecking crew?

2018-08-11 Thread Christopher T. Tessaglia-Hymes 
Dave K, et. al.,

First, let me state that I was not a participant of either of these trips, and 
am only responding with my eList administrator hat on. While I don’t doubt some 
frustration that may have been felt by you or others in having missed the Ruff 
on Friday or Saturday, it is not uncommon for field leaders to have authorized 
or planned scouting trips ahead of schedule field trips. That being said, it is 
not okay to publicly call out people in this way, especially as identified by 
religion. Please be respectful of your fellow birders on this eList!

If you were to take a moment to review the eBird checklists from the morning of 
the scouting trip as compared to morning of the planned field trip, you will 
see very little variation in the species and abundance, with the exception of 
the following (Species Name #Friday AM vs #Saturday AM):

Wood Duck 50 vs 5
Gadwall 0 vs 5
Mallard 150 vs 100 (estimated)
American Black Duck 1 vs 0
Green-winged Teal 20 vs 12
Great Egret 35 vs 1
Green Heron 1 vs 45
Black-crowned Night-Heron 4 vs 25
Common Gallinule 6 vs 1
Sandhill Crane 3 vs 11
Semipalmated Plover 50 vs 55
Killdeer 25 vs 15
RUFF 1 vs 0
Stilt Sandpiper 1 vs 2
Least Sandpiper 100 vs 75
White-rumped Sandpiper 2 vs 1
Pectoral Sandpiper 50 vs 25 (estimated)
Peep sp. 0 vs 100 (estimated)
Greater Yellowlegs 3 vs 6
Lesser Yellowlegs 75 vs 150 (estimated)
Ring-billed Gull 28 vs 45 (estimated)

Here are the two eBird checklists these numbers were pulled from:

Friday morning: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S47759874

Saturday morning: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S47787278

If one were to look at the other aspect affecting species mix and numbers, 
i.e., the weather, you will see that there was the passage of a cold front 
producing favorable migration conditions on the morning of the 10th (the day of 
the scouting trip) through the late evening of the 10th (the night before the 
field trip). It would not be unexpected to see the species mix and numbers 
become affected by the passage of this cold front. Given the time of year and 
the turnover of numbers of species, I’m not surprised, and daily variation is 
to be expected. It is highly unlikely that the scouting trip on the morning of 
the 10th caused this kind of turnover.

It has been claimed that repeated human traffic near mudflat habitat would 
cause fewer shorebirds to use or return to that space; however, it has been 
arguably demonstrated that once mudflat-using shorebirds are exposed to daily 
routines of humans and nearby cars traveling on dikes, those mudflat-using 
shorebirds will become accustomed to and less skittish of humans or cars near 
them. Please note, this is not the same thing as the impact that humans can 
have upon coastal beachfront-using migratory shorebirds—that’s a completely 
different habitat type and scenario.

In the future, if there are any concerns or complaints associated with other 
birders or their activities, please either contact them directly off-list, or 
reach out to me in private first, and not to the entire Cayugabirds-L eList 
community of 930 subscribers.

Thank you!

Sincerely,
Chris T-H

Listowner, Cayugabirds-L
Ithaca, NY



On Aug 11, 2018, at 5:17 PM, Dave K 
mailto:fishwatch...@hotmail.com>> wrote:

A group of the usuals (minus one plus an Amish guy) went on a 'scouting trip' 
at Knox-Marcellus on Friday preceding Saturdays 'Public Walk'.
Of course, they flushed many of the birds, pushing them away from the dikes and 
some, including the Ruff, out of the area.
How could any right minded person think this scouting adventure would have a 
positive impact on so many who waited until the scheduled time Saturday morning.
I've only seen reports from one scout so I don't know if any of the others even 
bothered to show up today. But hey., they got theirs, right?
Today's participants deserved better.
So elitist and exclusionary.
--
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--
Chris Tessaglia-Hymes
Listowner, Cayugabirds-L
Ithaca, New York
c...@cornell.edu
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