"Wait, there is more to the story about Latham Reservoir Welcoming Committee"/Weld

[The "Nunn Guy"]

I led Boulder County Audubon trip around Weld County yesterday.  Total of 64 species seen.  Highlights are:

Long-billed Curlew (On east side fo reservoir, near top of hill where everyone looks to reservoir, bird was along oil industry dirt road in field)
McCown's, Chestnet-collared Longspurs, Loggerhead Shrike, Sage Thrasher, Lark Bunting at Weld CR 114/108
Peregrine Falcon at Dover Reservoir (Nunn)
Herring Gull at Woods Lake
Great-tailed Grackle, Red-necked Phalarope, Black-necked Stilt at Weld CR 59 Marsh
Burrowing Owl Weld CR 33 btw 100/98 on west
brewer's Blacbird Beebe Draw

I mentioned committee (meaning more than one) on my subject line because there are more than two people awaiting to "greet" birders.  The first welcoming committe arrived to us by his unlicensed motor vehicle and we thinking we were getting cookies were greeted by him taking our license plate numbers down.  On the east side of reservoir where curlew is another gentleman came to us and we thought--this has to be cookies!  Wrong.  he greeted us with "That's my mailbox over there, do you know what ID theft is?  if you don't leave I'll be calling the sheriff."  Like Norm, frustrated as we were we decided to leave.  Let's just say you would have more success reasoning with a rock than these two gentleman--and I use that term generously.

Birders beware!

All birds:

American Robin
House Sparrow
House Finch
Western MEadowlark
Mourning Dove
American Goldfinch
Red-tailed Hawk
European Starling
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian-collared Dove
American Kestrel
Horned Lark
Burrowing Owl
Peregrine Falcon
Green-winged Teal
Northern Pintail
Blue-winged Teal
Black-billed Magpie
Red-winged Blackbird
Canda Goose
mallard
great Horned Owl
Western Grebe
mcCow's Longspur
Chestnut-collared Longspur
Loggerhead Shrike
Sage Thrasher
Common Raven
Swainson's Hawk
Bluejay
Northern Shoveler
Greater yellowlegs
Barn Swallow
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Ruddy Duck
Killdeer
Lesser Yellowlegs
American Coot
Great Blue Heron
Song Sparrow
Double-crested Cormorant
Cinnamon Teal
Lesser Scaup
Herring Gull
American Wigeon
Bald Eagle
Gadwall
American White Pelican
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Flicker
Black-crowned Night Heron
Black-capped Chickadee
Brown-headed Cowbird
Black-necked Stilt
Long-billed Curlew
Ring-blled Gull
Bufflehead
great-tailed Grackle
Red-necked Phalarope
Least Sandpiper
Lark Bunting
Brewer's Blackbird

Thanks Gary Lefko, Nunn
http://coloradobirder.ning.com/
Mobile:  http://coloradobirder.ning.com/m

[Ira Sanders]

I think you should have encouraged him to call the sheriff and unless he can show your fingerprints on his mailbox, so what.

Ira Sanders

Golden, CO

--
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+u...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to cob...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/31a61478-8bf9-42cb-a50f-0180ad2ac7f5%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Joe Roller]

I am concerned about the local landowners escalating their confrontations with us birders.

My concern is that some birder might be perceived as angry at being harassed like that or threatening to them and provoke

an unwelcome response, such as having a firearm waved around. Don't want that.

Various approaches have occurred to me, eg,

A)  Writing a letter from an organization like CFO.  Perhaps have a "Cooling down period," by not stopping at known sensitive spots til we make contact with the irate men.

B)  Finding a respected community leader  (pastor, neighbor) who can meet with the landowners, offer to negotiate, meet some of us, ascertain that we are not Commy Peace-niks, (well many of us are not), aiming to de-escalate.

C)  Knocking on doors, preferably with a friend who is female, as that may get a better response.

(They shoot horses don't they? Maybe not school teachers).

Asking the owners about their concerns, being sympathetic to them and reassure them that we are decent people.

Ask them what we can do to appease them.

I like trying some of those, especially B), before us telling the Sheriff we are on a public road and being harassed.

That might escalate. "YOU called the sheriff on US!!! Where's my gun?"

I do not want to start a long thread, but I, being a pessimist, can see a dark outcome here unless we are proactive.

You can respond off line if you want.

Joe Roller, Denver

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/006001cf5cba%241b8ad6f0%2452a084d0%24%40com.

[Norm Lewis]

As much as I admire Joe's multiple soft solutions, I doubt they would make much impression on this nutjob.  Probably the best solution is to make sure not to park in front of his house, and otherwise just ignore him.  Maybe he'll just get tired of the game.

Norm

Norm Lewis

Lakewood, CO

-----Original Message-----
From: The "Nunn Guy" <lef...@yahoo.com>
To: cobirds <cob...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sun, Apr 20, 2014 10:49 am
Subject: [cobirds] "Wait, there is more to the story about Latham Reservoir Welcoming Committee"/Weld

[Cathy Sheeter]

I have often stopped at the oil well pullout a bit closer to CR48 instead of the top of the hill in front of the houses, having on one occasion seen an unfavorable response from the "house on the hill owners". One time while viewing birds from near the oil well a guy from the oil company pulled in. He was actually very, very friendly, asked all kinds of questions about what kinds of birds I was looking at, asked about the various types of hawks in that area, looked through my scope at the Bald Eagle nest, etc. and seemed genuinely interested in birds, nature and nature photography. He told me I was welcome to park and look from the oil well location any time. It is not quite as ideal as the top of the hill, but the majority of the reservoir can be seen fairly well from there too and avoids any confrontation. I have actually always had a favorable response (so far) from parking by oil well setups and the people that work them have (so far) all been friendly. Yes, I am female, and perhaps that is part of it, but most of them truly seem interested in nature and what I have seen.

 

Cathy Sheeter

Ft. Lupton

[OKbookwoman]

One more comment on birding the Latham Reservoir area. A friend of mine and her husband were birding that area on April 9. She isn’t certain of the exact spot, but it was at a T-intersection with a house straight up the T. As they were birding from their car, they both distinctly heard a gun shot. At first, they thought someone might be doing target practice, but it was only one shot. No clay pigeons and no one in sight. They started to think about the ramifications and got out of there. Just saying’… These people are NOT someone to try to reason with!

Deb Evers

Loveland, CO

[Deborah Carstensen]

I am not familiar with this area or what the exact situation is on the street but has anyone considered touching base with the police and letting them know what's going on?

Obviously, there's nothing specific to report, but they be interested in the general situation and it also might be a good proactive thing to do.

      As a side note, I was shot at after leaving the Barbour State Park several years ago. I had pulled off to the side of the county road that leads back to Highway 119 to check out some birds in the field. There was only one big white house in that area. I was still in my car- looking out the passenger window when I heard the first shot.  I started to look out the window again when a second shot came hitting the gravel next to my car. I got the hint and quickly drove away.

I decided to reported to the police and they sent an officer out right away. He explained to me that he knew the men in the house and knew they had guns but was sure that it was all just an accident... Nonetheless, I thought it would be good to let them know what had happened in case it happened again. 

       

     

Sent from my iPhone

--
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+u...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to cob...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/a631bb57-e110-44d6-b522-eedfcfa762a4%40googlegroups.com.

[Deborah Carstensen]

My iPhone sent that last email without me asking it to!

      I just told that story because I think people are driven to doing stupid things when they don't understand or feel threatened by someone else's actions. 

    Deb Carstensen, Arapahoe County

Sent from my iPhone

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/270D7C5C-FA22-4CF5-BEE6-00BDE02F9D44%40aol.com.

[The "Nunn Guy"]

Hi all

I contacted Weld Sheriff via email and shared our experiences--reaching out to them for potential solutions.  I did not mention names to "protect the innocent" ... :-) ... I'll let you know how Sheriff responds.

Thanks Gary Lefko, Nunn
http://coloradobirder.ning.com/
Mobile:  http://coloradobirder.ning.com/m

[Kay Niyo]

Mary Cay Burger and I had the exact same experience with an oil truck driver last year when we were parked near the oil well pullout (and not blocking access).  He was very interested in the birds through our scopes, etc.  We have never stopped near the house.

 

Kay

 

Kayleen A. Niyo, Ph.D.

Niyo Scientific Communications

5651 Garnet St.

Golden, CO 80403

303.679.6646

K...@KayNiyo.com; www.KayNiyo.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+u...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to cob...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/3499c83e-7778-4522-a742-6d23f98a602f%40googlegroups.com.

[The "Nunn Guy"]

Received reply  from Weld Sheriff's office ... Division Commander-type

Thank you for bringing your concerns to the attention of the Sheriff's Office. It appears that you and your fellow birders are taking appropriate steps to avoid confrontations. There are any number of factors at play in this situation. They are in no particular order;

1) It is public road that can be traveled on by any member of the public. You are not in violation of any law by driving on any county road. The laws that govern motor vehicles apply to all persons and vehicles that are on the roadway. As to the "glorified golf cart" there are some exemptions as it may be considered an implement of agriculture so that particular instance would have to be looked into.

2) Driving slow is not in itself a criminal act, however it is also a common act of persons who are looking to scout out locations for future criminal activity. Please understand that I am not in any fashion accusing you of scouting for criminal gain, but driving slow through an area repeatedly could be mistaken for such activity, especially someone who has been a victim of such activity.

3) Pulling into an oil tank battery to stop and look is a safe idea especially from a traffic standpoint. A consideration is that by the very nature of the location there are rather flammable materials in the area, thus open flame or smoking could have a rather disastrous outcome if one were not careful. Also please note that the person you talked to may or may not have the authority to grant permission to be on a given location. While they may not care, the actual owner and or the company servicing the tank battery may not share the same opinion. Also please note that we have had a significant issue with theft from tank batteries and as such we very much encourage anyone in the area to call in any time they see a car parked at a tank battery, and for our deputies to stop anyone seen at a tank battery.

4) As to getting out to use a spotting scope to view birds that is admirable since it is the best way to not disturb the birds. However you have to be careful not to disturb the flow of traffic, granted that in that particular area it is very light even on a busy day, but there is always a safety concern while outside of a vehicle on a roadway. I personally use a window mounted scope for my wildlife viewing and remain in the vehicle. It should also be noted that if for some reason a less thoughtful person were to decide to get closer to the bird to get a better view and entered onto private property that they could be charged with trespassing. The best way to avoid this is to obtain written permission from the land owner ahead of time. They might even have a better spot with a greater view that they would let you go to. The decision to grant permission is still the prerogative of the land owner, so they may say no.

5) While I agree that the behavior of the people you have encountered was much less than hospitable, by the comments made it would appear that they are worried about theft from their mail boxes, which is a significant concern of most rural residents. Unfortunately we have seen a multitude of case over the years where mail is stolen from a rural mail box and the information used for fraudulent activities. As to the writing down of a license plate number while it is annoying it is not illegal, and is actually encouraged if a person thinks the vehicle in question is involved in illegal activity. Once again I am not making any accusation, however the perception of the person who feels he or she is potentially being victimized is the driving factor involved. Anyone is allowed to call law enforcement, however that being said an officer or deputy will not issue a summons or make an arrest unless there is a violation of law.

6) In regard to a shot being heard, that is a rather common occurrence in many rural locations. Firearms are an often preferred manner of dealing with any number of types of vermin on a farm. That being said it is never acceptable to threaten another person with a firearm, recklessly endanger another with a firearm or to attempt to scare another person with a firearm. If any of those things happen, please make sure to notify law enforcement immediately so that the matter can be investigated and addressed as quickly as possible. As with all situations it is not unlawful for a person to have a firearm on his or her person, however it becomes another matter if that firearm is used to do any of the above actions.

I hope this information assists you in your endeavors to have a pleasurable birding experience. As with all things a little bit of understanding and tolerance goes a long ways and unfortunately some individuals may chose not extend those courtesies. While their actions are not illegal they may very well be unpleasant and even downright rude, but not illegal and as such, action on the part of the Sheriff's office cannot be taken.

Respectfully,

J.D. Broderius
Division Commander
Weld County Sheriff's Office
1950 "O" Street, Greeley, Colorado 80631
970-356-4015 Ext 2810
Cell Phone 970-590-6838
E-mail: jbrod...@co.weld.co.us

Thanks Gary Lefko, Nunn
http://coloradobirder.ning.com/
Mobile:  http://coloradobirder.ning.com/m

On Sunday, April 20, 2014 10:49:17 AM UTC-6, The "Nunn Guy" wrote: