I was happy this was posted as we all need to do our part and be smart. Today at and around our feeder on a 15 minute watch, this is what came by to call: A pair of bustits, a Cassin’s finch, Downy woodpecker, 20+ juncos, at least 100 robins drinking water on the street, a red breasted nuthatch at the suet, with a white breasted nuthatch on the ash trunk nearby, a blue jay, two northern flickers, about ten house sparrows and about ten house finches, three black capped chickadees, and one black capped chickadee that looked like he had gotten a weird mohawk haircut (!) These are all random acts of joy right at home! That is not to say I won’t go out birding, alone or with my husband. Be safe and be well,
Libby Edwards Northwest Fort Collins Larimer Country > On Mar 20, 2020, at 7:49 AM, 'Allison Hilf' via Colorado Birds > <cobirds@googlegroups.com> wrote: > > I’m hearing via Facebook and birding listservs that a lot of people are > getting out into the woods for birding, which seems like an excellent plan > for social distancing, but the devil is in the details. Many parks, wildlife > refuges, and other wonderful places have closed their facilities, including > their restrooms, for the duration. If the bathrooms are closed, it is very > bad, in every hygienic sense, for multiple people to be "using" the woods. > When even a small percentage of people have bathroom emergencies while > enjoying a park with closed facilities, it can be a serious problem. That is > a big, and valid, reason why many parks are closed altogether. > > Some birders have expressed outrage that their favorite birding spots are > closed, and some have even boasted about parking and getting around or under > entrance gates on foot. But very few people have the knowledge and carry the > supplies to deal with their waste hygienically under normal conditions, much > less when we’re in the middle of a health emergency. Imagine being the > employees who will return after weeks or months, to clean up after scofflaws. > When our favorite birding spots are closed, we need to make the best of it. > > Dr. Peter Crosson, a birder and a medical doctor, wrote an extremely valuable > post to a Massachusetts birding listserv, and he’s generously given me > permission to quote it. He wrote: > In my non-birding day job I'm a physician, bracing for the ramping up of > COVID cases and the horrifying specter of lives lost to this disease. > It's become abundantly clear that this is a disease that needs to be beaten > on the public health front, not at the bedside. As a member of a wonderful, > vibrant birding community, with many birders "of a certain age," I feel the > need to speak up a bit about our responsibilities to each other and to the > country as a whole. > As we've all heard, social distancing is key, and birding can be a wonderful > form of social distancing. However, it's not social distancing when you are > riding in the car with other birders who don't live with you. It's not social > distancing when you are clustering in groups, and certainly not when you are > sharing optics such as scopes. > Anyone of us can be exposed to the virus through asymptomatic friends, so to > restrict yourself to hanging out with people who have no symptoms is not > enough. Since this began, I have gone birding once with another person. We > met at the site, having come in separate cars. We kept 6 feet distance > between us at all times, and did not share any optics. If you are not > following procedures like that, you're not social distancing. It's also > obviously important at more popular sites to avoid touching handrails that > other people could be touching, as the virus can live on surfaces for up to > three to five days. Frequent handwashing and use of at least 60% > alcohol-based hand sanitizer is also crucial. > It discourages me when I look on eBird and see multiple people reporting the > same group checklist from a site. Maybe I am wrong, and they are all arriving > in separate cars and keeping distance between themselves, but I doubt that's > the case. We are at a tipping point in this crisis, and as an educated and > caring group we need to commit to doing everything we can to stop COVID-19. > If we lose one member of our birding community because of this virus, it will > be a tragedy. Make no mistake, if we do not change our behavior, that is near > certain. > Dr. Peter Crosson > It’s so hard to be dealing with this sudden massive disruption in our daily > lives. Those of us who love birding are of course disappointed to be cutting > back our activities right during the most thrilling time of year—spring > migration, when we see so many wonderful birds when we can visit lots of > habitat. Backyard birding may not be anywhere near as thrilling, but this is > a time to appreciate tiny joys as we can. And building up a yard list has > plenty of joys of its own. The more seriously we take social distancing now, > the more of us will be able to get back into our favorite old birding > practices next spring. > > Good SAFE birding, > Allison Hilf > Aurora, CO > > Sent from my iPad > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/2D4036FD-8BCA-4AFB-8650-D7FF7D03E619%40me.com. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/F42175A7-49B2-489B-BEFF-8DB940E007B4%40gmail.com.
