a situation (Boulder)

DAVID A LEATHERMAN

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Mar 3, 2022, 6:23:37 PM3/3/22

to COBIRDS

What do you get when you mix the following ingredients: a nice peaceful and beautiful area near bigger, fast-growing human population centers; an owl that attracts another owl and they appear in the same area on a repeat basis; humans under the influence of a multi-year covid pandemic and spring fever; locals who remember fondly the "way it used to be"; high quality photography equipment within the price range of many; Facebook and COBIRDS and eBird and other sources of up-to-date intel? Answer: a situation (Boulder).

I appreciate all the public and private responses. Based on what you all have shared about various ingredients, the "situation" is quite understandable.

Fully acknowledging the truth of what Robin said about broad brushes, I was made aware of a Facebook group called the "Colorado Bird Photographers" which has 9800 members. Wow, that's a lot of folks and I'm sure 90% have parents who brag about them. Several photos of the Lyons' pygmy-owls have appeared on that site. Sometimes unpredictable, strange things happen as a result of social media. I remember well the night the rental house next to my apartment complex advertised a party to a limited number of friends. To the surprise of the party organizers, over 100 cars descended on our street and alley. Soon under-the-influence kids were walking, yelling, littering and worse in their yard, our courtyard and elsewhere. While not nearly as disturbing, maybe something like that is happening west of Lyons. Personal discoveries added to word-of-mouth chats added to postings within rather large groups have led to a situation with unintended consequences. I have suggested to one of our leaders that a formal contact be made between us and the Facebook photography group. We should exchange organizational goals, ethics guidelines and be on the same team.

I am glad to know birders don't seem to be main culprits in this situation and just hope we all behave.

Dave Leatherman

Fort Collins

DAVID J WALTMAN

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Mar 3, 2022, 7:03:55 PM3/3/22

to DAVID A LEATHERMAN, COBIRDS

Dave’s latest message explained a mystery I had. I was at the Lyons owl site this morning for the first time in weeks. There must have been at least twenty owl photographers there. What puzzled me is why I didn’t recognize a single person. I’ve been birding in Boulder county for many decades and I typically know several birders when there is gathering for a good bird, but not today. I took one photo of the photographers with my iPhone. There are twelve people in my photo (blocking both lanes of the road). Every single person has a camera, and many have cameras with large to huge lenses, and I can only spot one person with possible binoculars. These are not birders. These are photographers that have heard about the photo op from the internet. It’s no wonder I didn’t recognize any of them. And maybe that’s why they don’t observe birding etiquette?

David Waltman

Boulder

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John Salisbury

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Mar 4, 2022, 11:15:06 AM3/4/22

to DAVID J WALTMAN, DAVID A LEATHERMAN, COBIRDS

David,

I need to listen to what you and others are saying about photographers ``just there for the shot", I want to undertsand the concern of people with cameras disturbing others there to "just" bird . One thing I would mention however regarding your comment about the group being composed of all photographers and no one you recognized. Did it occur to anyone that this COBirds group is spreading the word of the owl to people all over the state who are willing to travel a few miles to see it? This crowd phenomena to see a rare or special bird is happening all over the State due to the popularity of birding and also efficient and timely communication of the location of the birds. Two other recent examples, the Eurasian Wigeon at Pella Crossing and the Pyrrhuloxia in Wheatridge. The word gets out and is discussed in great detail here in this group motivating many people to converge on the sighting. I don't advocate disbanding COBirds, but people using common sense, practicing respect for the residents in the area and each other whether they carry a set of binoculars or a camera.

John

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Andi P

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Mar 4, 2022, 11:15:11 AM3/4/22

to DAVID J WALTMAN, COBIRDS, DAVID A LEATHERMAN

Everybody is getting really worked up over this. I’m both a birder and a photographer. I have a nice pair of binoculars, a nice scope AND I shoot with a 600mm lens. Sometimes, in the birding community, people may have antagonist feelings toward photographers and at times and use the word “big lens“ in a negative tone. In my mind, a big lens means you don’t need to get close to the subject. It keeps you at a safe distance. Distance keeps the bird performing their normal behavior. I care about the birds that I photograph and I keep a respectful distance. I pull off the the side of the road to park. I’ve been to that spot a couple of times and I recognized both birders and photographers and I even made a few new friends along the way. While there are always the bad apples that ruin the bunch, from the photography perspective, I call those people out if they’re being reckless. That being said, the reckless people I’ve seen over the years aren’t always true wildlife photographers. They are people trying to photograph a bird up close with a cell phone. True ‘Birders’ are typically almost always caring for the birds that they see.

I feel like I’m arguing about politics right now. Us against them. Can’t we be both? Both a birder and a photographer? I like to think that I strike the balance of both. Most of the people that I’m acquainted with do also. In this particular situation, sometimes you have to wait hours before you even get a glimpse of the owl. I can understand why this would be frustrating for locals, seeing cars and people on their quiet road. It’s like having paparazzi there. That being said, it won’t last forever. I love that people are out enjoying nature during a time that we are still in a pandemic and we have a war going on in Ukraine. People need something else to care about. If people don’t say something beautiful, they’re less apt to care about it. Can’t we all get along?

Andi-Douglas County, Bird Nerd and photographer

On Thu, Mar 3, 2022 at 5:03 PM DAVID J WALTMAN <djwa...@comcast.net> wrote: