[Birdtalk] apology

[Kristin Purdy]

I'd like to comment on Dave's mea culpa, below, and on the birder behaviors 
I've heard about, witnessed or participated in.

First, I was with Dave for two treks up the hill in an attempt to see the 
Whip-poor-will. I believe we searched for the bird in a restrained manner 
and didn't disturb it. My light also died in the second attempt and I left 
without seeing the the bird, even though it remained in the same spot and 
called as we made our not-so-silent approach. In other words, the bird was 
aware of our presence and chose not to leave. I heard the bird still calling 
in the same spot as I made my way back down the slope. I wasn't terribly 
disappointed with my choice to use my remaining flashlight to light my 
footing, rather than to see the bird. The audible experience of the 
Whip-poor-will's voice joining the other evening and nocturnal birds in the 
canyon had been wonderful.

I've read of or have witnessed reserved use of playbacks, which were neither 
excessive nor fruitless, as the bird began to call after hearing the 
recordings. The bird also began to call on his own that night at 9:30 as if 
he had a scheduled concert, and at least twice in response to Common 
Poorwills beginning to sing. I also noted that the bird moved around and 
began to call on his own in the new spots without any inspiration from 
humans whatsoever.

When I total all of the birder efforts I know of to see and hear the 
Whip-poor-will, I don't believe this bird has been stressed by our birding 
community. Yes, birders have used recorded playbacks briefly and have 
searched for it with lights. But the sum total of that is a tiny fraction of 
the time the bird spends singing and moving on its own. I also haven't 
forgotten that the nightjar family is known for being relatively tame and is 
not easily disturbed.

I'm in the habit of not posting bird sightings when I believe the bird can't 
stand the attention. Many of these sightings would be highly coveted by the 
birding community. I don't think the Whip-poor-will falls into this category 
as long as our community continues to demonstrate the reserved behaviors 
that we've seen.

Kris
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dave Hanscom" <hanscom at cs.utah.edu>
To: "Bird Talk" <birdtalk at utahbirds.org>
Sent: Friday, June 27, 2008 1:10 PM
Subject: [Birdtalk] apology


> Dear fellow birders,
>
> bad news:  I screwed up!   :-(
>
> more bad news:  It's not the first time.
>
> good news:  I learned some important lessons from it that I most
>            certainly won't repeat.
>
> Thanks to several of you, I now know more about the ABA rules for listing
> birds and about how to, and how not to, behave when looking for certain
> rare species.  As a relative beginner to the hobby of birding, and to
> keeping a list of the birds I see, I'm afaid I haven't taken the care I
> should have to do things properly.
>
> My apologies for my previous email.  I was naive enough to think it would
> discourage people from going up there, rather than encouraging them, when
> they found out they were unlikely to see anything.  I didn't notice that
> the person who originally found the bird had asked people to be satisfied
> with just an audible.
>
> Some of you have commented about my "chasing the bird all over the
> mountain".  I did hike up the hillside, mostly without lights, but
> occasionally turned one on when the bird seemed to be close enough to see.
> It turned out that my spotlight died, so my only light source was a small
> headlamp.  Most of the time I was just sitting on the ground waiting for
> him to sing again.  Hopefully I didn't upset the bird too much.
>
> I also hope that my ignorance won't prevent people from informing the Utah
> birding community about unusual sightings, as one emailer suggested.
> Hopefully the bottom line from all this is that we all have learned more
> about what is, and what isn't, appropriate birding behavior.
>
> I will certainly be more careful in the future.  Lesson learned!  No more
> rants or character defamation is necessary.   :-)
>
> Dave Hanscom
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