Thank you for sharing this information, Doug. “The most people seeing the most birds” is an admirable goal. I think treating new birders with respect and patience is the best way to encourage them to be mindful of the animals’ well being. I remember when I first started, I met major roadblocks with gatekeepers as well. It was discouraging because these people seemed to assume I would harm birds or mistreat them simply by knowing where to find them. I’m happy videos like this existed as a form of encouragement for new birders who may have experienced something similar.
Thanks for watching, Will, and I appreciate you sharing your experience. Definitely agree that patience and respect are so important. I started as a teenager with a camera and remember being snubbed by most binocular-wielding birders. Thankfully I met a very patient lady at Evergreen Cemetery who helped me learn the warblers!
A very thoughtful discussion. I totally agree with you. But in the Sax-Zim Bog, we take a little bit of a different view. We share locations of all Northern owls in the 300 mi.² bog. As you probably know, we are famous for Great Grays, Hawk owls, Snowies and Boreal owls sometimes. We realize that seeing one of these birds is a bucket list/peak experience for many visitors and we want to help them get that. They have spent a lot of money to get here and we want to facilitate their best owl and bird experience. Most of these owls are very tolerant of people, of course, and most are on public land or roads. We are not the police of the bog and birders have to police themselves. It works 99% of the time. So just a little bit of a different perspective. PS good work on being the gatekeeper for the willow Tarmigan in Maine. I saw that on Ethan and Ingrid‘s video. I think that is the perfect example of necessary gatekeeping.
Some very good points and I actually moved out of the area I first started birding due to the actions of some self-appointed gatekeepers. I generally bird alone and when something rare is announced I generally do not go to look, mob style birding is not to my liking. I remember the obnoxious looks and comments from some old school birders who did not like cameras. I also met a very elderly man who was using his first camera after 70 years of birding but kept it hidden because his "old" companions did not approve. His eyes and ears and memory were going and for him to get clear sighting required the camera. We had a woman who became a well known local gate keeper, she only told her friends where certain birds were as long as they agreed to tell her when they found something special. At the same time some amazing young birders went onto university and became biologist and photographers and guides, people would discount these young birders as being know it all's but most of them were good caring people who are credit to the fields they work in.
One major problem associated with sharing a location on private property is the rudeness of bird watchers in a homeowner's yard. I witnessed "bird watchers" entering the yard with huge cameras and sitting in the owner's lawnchairs. They setup cameras and proceeded to eat burritos while dropping food on the lady's chairs. She came out and asked them not to sit in her chair. They acted like she was in the wrong. To see a bird, stand on your own feet and leave the camera behind. You don't need a photo. Just enjoy the bird.
Yeah it is uncommon but people can be ridiculous. My parents hosted a Rufous Hummingbird (very rare in Maine) years ago and one birder yelled at my mom for walking outside to hang clothes. Unbelievable.
Getting upset about them eating and taking pictures is missing the bigger issue IMHO... Them just invading someone's private property. Nothing wrong with birding photography. But be courteous and stay in your own/public spaces, dont be going onto someone else's property and sitting in their chairs, etc without permission.
I think you're correct. Controls give the birders and the birds the best experience possible. Bird remains unstressed with limits on crowds and bad behaviour thus increasing the chances more will be able to see said species.
I don’t understand the enjoyment in chasing around an owl with 50 other birders. But that’s just me. I like the solitude of wild places and using an app to find birds just doesn’t seem to fit with the whole experience of being out in nature. Also not using e bird is probably why I never see anything😊 Great topic.
I didnt know people flocked en masse like that to see birds. I havent crossed any people that care much in my area. I love it when Turkey hunting (is that taboo among birders? We eat them!) with my wife and FIL, even if we dont see any turkey, its always a treat to just "disappear" into the woods quietly and just enjoy nature being undisturbed around us. Listen to the calls, the silence, see the birds and sometimes deer, etc. We saw a Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, a Painted Bunting(!), Summer Tanagers (so pretty when theyre singing!), bunch of woodpeckers (Pileated and Red Bellied), even some Turkey hens and jakes (no Gobblers that morning), and my personal favorite: the Swallow Tailed Kite, all in one morning! All so beautiful!
Wow, sounds like a lovely bunch of birds you've got around! I'm envious as a few of those are very rare where I am (southern Maine). Seems like only the rarest birds get huge 'flocks' of birders, but as the hobby grows in popularity it is more common. Thanks for watching!
I'm still fairly new to birding and I'm mostly a solo birder, so even having led a few bird walks consisting of two dozen people tops, shots like this (4:23) I still find jarring. It's kinda surreal the number of people who'll turn up to a small area - some having come from as far as other states or regions of the country - to look for a single bird, complete with all the gear. I've only chased local rarities twice, and the furthest I've gone was just two towns over to see a roseate spoonbill (in the Northeast). Definitely worth it for the experience of visiting somewhere new, but at least that place was a local Audubon center so it felt kinda natural to have crowds of people gathering to look at a bird. Couldn't picture that same experience in a regular park I frequent or even someone's neighborhood; the thought seems overwhelming.
Fortunately those mobs at rarities don't happen too often (at least in the US - the UK twitching scene is wild) but I definitely have a love-hate relationship with them. I imagine it is like a concert, where you feed off the energy of the crowd, and you can meet some great birders and learn a ton at a rarity stakeout. That said, it takes one bad egg to ruin the experience, so I find myself staying away from more and more rarities, unless it is a new bird for me... Thanks for sharing your experience, and for watching!
its a necessary part of birding, Imagine if I had a bald eagle nesting in my back yard and I shared it with 1 birder. I would have 1000s of people lined up to go photograph it.
Yeah, regulating access is tough. I'm working on a video about a recent rare bird where we could only get one car in to the spot at a time; very challenging! Stay tuned for that.
Familiar story in the Netherlands as well. I sometimes am a gatekeeper myself, when I think the situation is vulnerable for the bird in question (especially owls). Oh, and we have the occasional rare visitor from North America over here. Mostly ducks like the canvasback but also the ring-billed gull or the song sparrow.
I'm not a super experienced birder by any means but I am always very conflicted on sharing rarities still. Even birds I see who are tolerant of my presence don't seem to enjoy my presence, especially not if they can tell I see them. I'm often scared to sit and watch the same bird for more thana short time for fear of stressing them. I know not everyone is like this and especially some photographers are very inconsiderate so I'm always hesitant.
Good point. I often say on my bird walks that "the birds come first, our experience is second" to emphasize that we should limit our impact. I do think that the majority of the time birds are unfazed by humans (who are watching from a respectful distance), or at least they deal with enough anthropogenic stressors already that someone with binoculars isn't a problem.
Very sad to say that I have seen first hand far too many times that people were doing/being horrible. I only know a very few people that I trust to share info about birds to. Earlier, there was a bird that only comes up to a small area of the west coast. During the first week, there were crowds 30+. I just walked away as the chance of seeing the bird with such a crowd was very unlikely and did not want to add to the chance of making the bird go away. I went back a week later. There would only be 3 or 4 people. It was a thrill to see the bird and the bonus was that I managed a few nice images. Disgusted when people do not respect other property or the welfare of the bird. What a thrill when a bird comes in and it just 2 or 3 feet away from me. Gatekeepers are required, whish they were not.
I agree with one commenter that it should be a goal to allow many people to see wildlife. I also understand that many people cannot be trusted to do that without causing harm. I was looking at a Hawaiian Monk Seal and i could clearly see its tag through my long telephoto lens, but the semi-official gatekeeper refused to confirm it's identity. A pointless overreach. Likewise, at the Campbell National Wildlife Refuge, there are many wintering birds and plenty of safe areas for viewing, but the gatekeepers, who have plentiful access, refuse entry to interested bird enthusiasts.
That sounds like a lame situation; hopefully their intentions were pure but seems like could have easily confirmed that for you. I don't get why someone wouldn't want more people seeing birds or experiencing nature!
As a (hobby) photographer, I hate to say it- it’s not birders who I’ve seen be rude, it’s photographers. Photographers will camp out for hours upon hours and do whatever they can for that shot. Birders with just binos often just come up, spend 5 mins looking at the bird, and move on. Photographers all feel entitled. Especially with owls. I have no issues with gatekeeping sensitive species, but I do think this era of social media makes it unclassy to post a photo only to go “nanana you can’t see it”! It’s like humble bragging they were part of the in crowd to be able to know the location.
Yeah, I definitely agree with you but didn't want to over generalize about "photographers" in a short(ish) video like this. The social media clout chasing by some photographers is a really bad look. Thanks for watching and I appreciate your perspective!
Yes, I think gatekeepers are necessary because people can do serious harm to birds. Some people get very caught up in the their life lists and adding rare birds to their lists. They don't think about the impact on these birds or the privacy of landowners. I am glad that eBird blocks sensitive species and that some local bird clubs erect "high gates" to protect birds. I deliberately do not go to see rare birds that show up in my locality; instead, I enjoy the photos and stories of the few people who get to experience this. I am much more concerned about the birds than I am about my life list or getting to see a rare bird "in person."
They kept the Saw-whet owls too secret- forgot to tell the City’s natural resources- they cut down their thicket of red cedars(due to stupid idea that this native tree In expected environment was invasive!).
I think that you're pretty close on this subject. If there is a rare find that is endangered or could be negatively impacted by a large crowd then I will only share that information with birders or photographers that i personally know and that i am sure they will act in the best interest of the bird. There are other times when I will freely share information because conditions are such that the knowledge of the bird's location should not pose a threat. For example, at a local state park here in SC there is a Great Horned Owl nest, two Osprey nests and a park ranger maintained feeder setup. Both of these nests are in a very public parking lot at a very popular park. There is also a bald eagle nest a mile or so up the hiking trail. There were 3 female painted Buntings and 2 male painted Buntings and a white winged dove at the feeders. The park ranger was freely directing people to the owl nest. Its visible from the parking lot but the swampy conditions make it impossible to approach. In this scenario i had no qualms telling people about it or sharing the photos. Its common knowledge to anyone who visits the park. So there is nothing to gain by withholding.
Thanks for watching and adding those examples here. There is definitely an important aspect that almost every bird/situation is unique and can be handled differently.
We do see reports of sensitive species, like the Great Gray Owl I referenced in the video, but we do not see hidden checklists, which are automatically marked "unconfirmed" and don't go through any review. Otherwise we see reports and get alerts at the same time as everyone else.
Great video. The birding elitism/high church attitude is always frustrating - but certainly not unique to birding. Jerks are in all aspects of life. I do have a question around sensitive species. You mentioned ebird can surpress these reports. -Is this automatic? If so - who governs those? -My interpretation of this is this will be hidden in all fassits of ebird including: rare bird alerts, targets, etc. But assume it would not hide checklists. Is that correct? Thanks, Doug!
I think you're spot on with how sensitive species are handled. The sensitive species is hidden from all public outputs but the checklist itself isn't hidden. As an example, here is my checklists with a Northern Hawk Owl on it: ebird.org/checklist/S158268394 but it should only show the other species when you view it. The local reviewers are able to decide what is considered sensitive. In Maine we have a few owls that are frequently harassed, and Gyrfalcon because they are often targeted by falconers. A few years ago I was on my honeymoon in Thailand and it was interesting to see how many species were 'sensitive' there because of the illegal pet trade.
My personal view is that I don’t care whether someone gate keeps or not. I don’t understand why people flock to torment some rare warbler. It’s f-ing sick. Eeuuuuw but I just want to seee it….Gimme a break!
I agree...if the bird exists somewhere else in the US, I would rather look for it on a trip where it normally lives or breeds. And luckily, my state (Michigan) protects the rarest warbler (Kirtland's) from humans tormenting them on their breeding grounds. I haven't seen it yet, but from what I've read, they literally gatekeep it. You can't get past the protected areas to see it unless you want to commit a crime
The entire "rare bird" thing is stupid because 9 times out of the 10 its not actually a rare bird, its just rare for that area. At 2:06 the article mentions the Painted Bunting as a rare bird. It's only a rare bird for Brooklyn. If you go to Texas/FLA/GA anywhere in the south you can see a Painted Bunting quite easily. So if you live in NY and want to see a Painted Bunting get down south, plus you'll see other cool birds. When I see a big crowd of birders I cringe and go the opposite way. I'm a bird photographer too and have seen some of them act like fools, the problem is they need to be called out for acting as such.
haha yeah "rare" needs to always be put in context. Traveling to that bird's native range sounds ideal, but when that might take me years to get the chance, I'll join the crowd to see one of these off track 'rarities'
I think in some cases it can be interesting. I know some people have been tracking a female great-tailed grackle in the Michigan Upper Peninsula for a few days. But in Texas, they're parking lot birds that might even outnumber house sparrows! I am guessing that a lot of people can't travel longer distances to specifically go birding, so seeing a painted bunting or GTG outside of their native range might be the only chance to ever see them.
The fun is not in the species itself. Its all about birding your local area for hours and hours seeing the same species. And then you find something rare or it turns up found by another birder. Dont you understand the fun in wanting to see that bird?
Well, coming from mycology and botany, I'm pretty well used to what you call 'gatekeeping'. Sure, the idea of open access to information is a good one. But if the spot of a rare, endangered and unfortunately also edible mushroom is "leaked" to enough people, someone will be scrupulous enough to pluck them. it's about nature and conservation, not about your personal right to experience something. i can understand the argument that 'gatekeeping' might disencourage future birders. even though i personally think that of all nature lovers, birders really are the less endangered ones. compare that to moss or algae enthusiasts or to the connoisseurs of myxomycetes or plant parasitic fungi. there gatekeeping might drive away the few people interested in the organism group. but birders? nah, there is no shortage of experts there. at least in comparison.
Tourists have destroyed franchise after franchise. When things go mainstream and are tooled to the lowest common denominator, it suffers. Star Wars, Star Trek, Gaming, D&D, now Warhammer 40k. I say keep the gate and only allow it to people who can respect the community and the hobby.
The painted bunting is still in Exeter, its been months now. Private property so its not assessible to the public, maybe a spread sheet to limit visitors would work for this situation, good idea.
Thank you for sharing this information, Doug.
“The most people seeing the most birds” is an admirable goal. I think treating new birders with respect and patience is the best way to encourage them to be mindful of the animals’ well being. I remember when I first started, I met major roadblocks with gatekeepers as well. It was discouraging because these people seemed to assume I would harm birds or mistreat them simply by knowing where to find them.
I’m happy videos like this existed as a form of encouragement for new birders who may have experienced something similar.
Thanks for watching, Will, and I appreciate you sharing your experience. Definitely agree that patience and respect are so important. I started as a teenager with a camera and remember being snubbed by most binocular-wielding birders. Thankfully I met a very patient lady at Evergreen Cemetery who helped me learn the warblers!
Well done, Doug. A service to the birding community. Thanks
Thank you, Craig!
A very thoughtful discussion. I totally agree with you. But in the Sax-Zim Bog, we take a little bit of a different view. We share locations of all Northern owls in the 300 mi.² bog. As you probably know, we are famous for Great Grays, Hawk owls, Snowies and Boreal owls sometimes. We realize that seeing one of these birds is a bucket list/peak experience for many visitors and we want to help them get that. They have spent a lot of money to get here and we want to facilitate their best owl and bird experience.
Most of these owls are very tolerant of people, of course, and most are on public land or roads. We are not the police of the bog and birders have to police themselves. It works 99% of the time.
So just a little bit of a different perspective.
PS good work on being the gatekeeper for the willow Tarmigan in Maine. I saw that on Ethan and Ingrid‘s video. I think that is the perfect example of necessary gatekeeping.
Some very good points and I actually moved out of the area I first started birding due to the actions of some self-appointed gatekeepers. I generally bird alone and when something rare is announced I generally do not go to look, mob style birding is not to my liking. I remember the obnoxious looks and comments from some old school birders who did not like cameras. I also met a very elderly man who was using his first camera after 70 years of birding but kept it hidden because his "old" companions did not approve. His eyes and ears and memory were going and for him to get clear sighting required the camera. We had a woman who became a well known local gate keeper, she only told her friends where certain birds were as long as they agreed to tell her when they found something special. At the same time some amazing young birders went onto university and became biologist and photographers and guides, people would discount these young birders as being know it all's but most of them were good caring people who are credit to the fields they work in.
One major problem associated with sharing a location on private property is the rudeness of bird watchers in a homeowner's yard. I witnessed "bird watchers" entering the yard with huge cameras and sitting in the owner's lawnchairs. They setup cameras and proceeded to eat burritos while dropping food on the lady's chairs. She came out and asked them not to sit in her chair. They acted like she was in the wrong. To see a bird, stand on your own feet and leave the camera behind. You don't need a photo. Just enjoy the bird.
Yeah it is uncommon but people can be ridiculous. My parents hosted a Rufous Hummingbird (very rare in Maine) years ago and one birder yelled at my mom for walking outside to hang clothes. Unbelievable.
Getting upset about them eating and taking pictures is missing the bigger issue IMHO... Them just invading someone's private property. Nothing wrong with birding photography. But be courteous and stay in your own/public spaces, dont be going onto someone else's property and sitting in their chairs, etc without permission.
I get the photo
It is just the disrespect for me also the traspassing
I think you're correct. Controls give the birders and the birds the best experience possible. Bird remains unstressed with limits on crowds and bad behaviour thus increasing the chances more will be able to see said species.
I don’t understand the enjoyment in chasing around an owl with 50 other birders. But that’s just me. I like the solitude of wild places and using an app to find birds just doesn’t seem to fit with the whole experience of being out in nature. Also not using e bird is probably why I never see anything😊 Great topic.
Thanks for watching! Definitely agree that solitude in nature is wonderful.
It IS joy if you want to just take a look. It is natural.
I didnt know people flocked en masse like that to see birds. I havent crossed any people that care much in my area. I love it when Turkey hunting (is that taboo among birders? We eat them!) with my wife and FIL, even if we dont see any turkey, its always a treat to just "disappear" into the woods quietly and just enjoy nature being undisturbed around us. Listen to the calls, the silence, see the birds and sometimes deer, etc. We saw a Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, a Painted Bunting(!), Summer Tanagers (so pretty when theyre singing!), bunch of woodpeckers (Pileated and Red Bellied), even some Turkey hens and jakes (no Gobblers that morning), and my personal favorite: the Swallow Tailed Kite, all in one morning!
All so beautiful!
Wow, sounds like a lovely bunch of birds you've got around! I'm envious as a few of those are very rare where I am (southern Maine). Seems like only the rarest birds get huge 'flocks' of birders, but as the hobby grows in popularity it is more common. Thanks for watching!
Thanks! If y’all wanna see the painted bunting y’all are welcome to come to my house in Texas where they’re abundant! We can do rarity trade trips 😂
I'm still fairly new to birding and I'm mostly a solo birder, so even having led a few bird walks consisting of two dozen people tops, shots like this (4:23) I still find jarring. It's kinda surreal the number of people who'll turn up to a small area - some having come from as far as other states or regions of the country - to look for a single bird, complete with all the gear. I've only chased local rarities twice, and the furthest I've gone was just two towns over to see a roseate spoonbill (in the Northeast). Definitely worth it for the experience of visiting somewhere new, but at least that place was a local Audubon center so it felt kinda natural to have crowds of people gathering to look at a bird. Couldn't picture that same experience in a regular park I frequent or even someone's neighborhood; the thought seems overwhelming.
Fortunately those mobs at rarities don't happen too often (at least in the US - the UK twitching scene is wild) but I definitely have a love-hate relationship with them. I imagine it is like a concert, where you feed off the energy of the crowd, and you can meet some great birders and learn a ton at a rarity stakeout. That said, it takes one bad egg to ruin the experience, so I find myself staying away from more and more rarities, unless it is a new bird for me...
Thanks for sharing your experience, and for watching!
Your videos are great and very informative! Thank you for taking the time to make them. ❤ I am in NH
Thanks for watching!!
its a necessary part of birding, Imagine if I had a bald eagle nesting in my back yard and I shared it with 1 birder. I would have 1000s of people lined up to go photograph it.
Yeah, regulating access is tough. I'm working on a video about a recent rare bird where we could only get one car in to the spot at a time; very challenging! Stay tuned for that.
Lovely video! Agree completely, the ultimate ojbective of gatekeeping should be to enable more people to enjoy more birds :)
Thanks for watching!
Familiar story in the Netherlands as well. I sometimes am a gatekeeper myself, when I think the situation is vulnerable for the bird in question (especially owls). Oh, and we have the occasional rare visitor from North America over here. Mostly ducks like the canvasback but also the ring-billed gull or the song sparrow.
Thanks for playing that important role!
I'm not a super experienced birder by any means but I am always very conflicted on sharing rarities still. Even birds I see who are tolerant of my presence don't seem to enjoy my presence, especially not if they can tell I see them. I'm often scared to sit and watch the same bird for more thana short time for fear of stressing them. I know not everyone is like this and especially some photographers are very inconsiderate so I'm always hesitant.
Good point. I often say on my bird walks that "the birds come first, our experience is second" to emphasize that we should limit our impact. I do think that the majority of the time birds are unfazed by humans (who are watching from a respectful distance), or at least they deal with enough anthropogenic stressors already that someone with binoculars isn't a problem.
Very sad to say that I have seen first hand far too many times that people were doing/being horrible. I only know a very few people that I trust to share info about birds to. Earlier, there was a bird that only comes up to a small area of the west coast. During the first week, there were crowds 30+. I just walked away as the chance of seeing the bird with such a crowd was very unlikely and did not want to add to the chance of making the bird go away. I went back a week later. There would only be 3 or 4 people. It was a thrill to see the bird and the bonus was that I managed a few nice images. Disgusted when people do not respect other property or the welfare of the bird. What a thrill when a bird comes in and it just 2 or 3 feet away from me. Gatekeepers are required, whish they were not.
4:12 I cannot express to you the amount of times that a great and rare bird has shown up somewhere and all the caption says is “continuing”
haha so frustrating!
I agree with one commenter that it should be a goal to allow many people to see wildlife. I also understand that many people cannot be trusted to do that without causing harm. I was looking at a Hawaiian Monk Seal and i could clearly see its tag through my long telephoto lens, but the semi-official gatekeeper refused to confirm it's identity. A pointless overreach. Likewise, at the Campbell National Wildlife Refuge, there are many wintering birds and plenty of safe areas for viewing, but the gatekeepers, who have plentiful access, refuse entry to interested bird enthusiasts.
That sounds like a lame situation; hopefully their intentions were pure but seems like could have easily confirmed that for you.
I don't get why someone wouldn't want more people seeing birds or experiencing nature!
As a (hobby) photographer, I hate to say it- it’s not birders who I’ve seen be rude, it’s photographers. Photographers will camp out for hours upon hours and do whatever they can for that shot. Birders with just binos often just come up, spend 5 mins looking at the bird, and move on. Photographers all feel entitled. Especially with owls.
I have no issues with gatekeeping sensitive species, but I do think this era of social media makes it unclassy to post a photo only to go “nanana you can’t see it”! It’s like humble bragging they were part of the in crowd to be able to know the location.
Yeah, I definitely agree with you but didn't want to over generalize about "photographers" in a short(ish) video like this. The social media clout chasing by some photographers is a really bad look.
Thanks for watching and I appreciate your perspective!
I agree with your comments especially about social media but not *all* photographers feel entitled lol.
Yes, I think gatekeepers are necessary because people can do serious harm to birds. Some people get very caught up in the their life lists and adding rare birds to their lists. They don't think about the impact on these birds or the privacy of landowners. I am glad that eBird blocks sensitive species and that some local bird clubs erect "high gates" to protect birds. I deliberately do not go to see rare birds that show up in my locality; instead, I enjoy the photos and stories of the few people who get to experience this. I am much more concerned about the birds than I am about my life list or getting to see a rare bird "in person."
They kept the Saw-whet owls too secret- forgot to tell the City’s natural resources- they cut down their thicket of red cedars(due to stupid idea that this native tree In expected environment was invasive!).
Wow! What a crazy story.
I think that you're pretty close on this subject.
If there is a rare find that is endangered or could be negatively impacted by a large crowd then I will only share that information with birders or photographers that i personally know and that i am sure they will act in the best interest of the bird.
There are other times when I will freely share information because conditions are such that the knowledge of the bird's location should not pose a threat. For example, at a local state park here in SC there is a Great Horned Owl nest, two Osprey nests and a park ranger maintained feeder setup. Both of these nests are in a very public parking lot at a very popular park. There is also a bald eagle nest a mile or so up the hiking trail. There were 3 female painted Buntings and 2 male painted Buntings and a white winged dove at the feeders. The park ranger was freely directing people to the owl nest. Its visible from the parking lot but the swampy conditions make it impossible to approach. In this scenario i had no qualms telling people about it or sharing the photos. Its common knowledge to anyone who visits the park. So there is nothing to gain by withholding.
Thanks for watching and adding those examples here. There is definitely an important aspect that almost every bird/situation is unique and can be handled differently.
Huntington? Thats a beautiful place. My wife and I used to ride our bikes in there and admire the wildlife when we lived in PI.
As an ebird reviewer do you have an advantage over others to see birds that are protected on hidden checklists?
We do see reports of sensitive species, like the Great Gray Owl I referenced in the video, but we do not see hidden checklists, which are automatically marked "unconfirmed" and don't go through any review. Otherwise we see reports and get alerts at the same time as everyone else.
Following. Pretty cool channel
Thanks! Much appreciated
Great video. The birding elitism/high church attitude is always frustrating - but certainly not unique to birding. Jerks are in all aspects of life.
I do have a question around sensitive species. You mentioned ebird can surpress these reports.
-Is this automatic? If so - who governs those?
-My interpretation of this is this will be hidden in all fassits of ebird including: rare bird alerts, targets, etc. But assume it would not hide checklists. Is that correct?
Thanks, Doug!
I think you're spot on with how sensitive species are handled. The sensitive species is hidden from all public outputs but the checklist itself isn't hidden. As an example, here is my checklists with a Northern Hawk Owl on it: ebird.org/checklist/S158268394 but it should only show the other species when you view it.
The local reviewers are able to decide what is considered sensitive. In Maine we have a few owls that are frequently harassed, and Gyrfalcon because they are often targeted by falconers.
A few years ago I was on my honeymoon in Thailand and it was interesting to see how many species were 'sensitive' there because of the illegal pet trade.
My personal view is that I don’t care whether someone gate keeps or not. I don’t understand why people flock to torment some rare warbler. It’s f-ing sick. Eeuuuuw but I just want to seee it….Gimme a break!
Haha yeah, that is one of the best parts of birding, there are many ways to do it. Thanks for watching!
I agree...if the bird exists somewhere else in the US, I would rather look for it on a trip where it normally lives or breeds. And luckily, my state (Michigan) protects the rarest warbler (Kirtland's) from humans tormenting them on their breeding grounds. I haven't seen it yet, but from what I've read, they literally gatekeep it. You can't get past the protected areas to see it unless you want to commit a crime
Hi Doug, I would love to talk to you about this sometime.
Happy to chat! My schedule opens up a lot more in July
Kinda wild to talk about elitism and gatekeeping whilst simultaneously proudly displaying every volume of HBW in the background to video 😂
touché
The entire "rare bird" thing is stupid because 9 times out of the 10 its not actually a rare bird, its just rare for that area. At 2:06 the article mentions the Painted Bunting as a rare bird. It's only a rare bird for Brooklyn. If you go to Texas/FLA/GA anywhere in the south you can see a Painted Bunting quite easily. So if you live in NY and want to see a Painted Bunting get down south, plus you'll see other cool birds. When I see a big crowd of birders I cringe and go the opposite way. I'm a bird photographer too and have seen some of them act like fools, the problem is they need to be called out for acting as such.
haha yeah "rare" needs to always be put in context. Traveling to that bird's native range sounds ideal, but when that might take me years to get the chance, I'll join the crowd to see one of these off track 'rarities'
I think in some cases it can be interesting. I know some people have been tracking a female great-tailed grackle in the Michigan Upper Peninsula for a few days. But in Texas, they're parking lot birds that might even outnumber house sparrows! I am guessing that a lot of people can't travel longer distances to specifically go birding, so seeing a painted bunting or GTG outside of their native range might be the only chance to ever see them.
The fun is not in the species itself. Its all about birding your local area for hours and hours seeing the same species. And then you find something rare or it turns up found by another birder. Dont you understand the fun in wanting to see that bird?
Well, coming from mycology and botany, I'm pretty well used to what you call 'gatekeeping'. Sure, the idea of open access to information is a good one. But if the spot of a rare, endangered and unfortunately also edible mushroom is "leaked" to enough people, someone will be scrupulous enough to pluck them. it's about nature and conservation, not about your personal right to experience something. i can understand the argument that 'gatekeeping' might disencourage future birders. even though i personally think that of all nature lovers, birders really are the less endangered ones. compare that to moss or algae enthusiasts or to the connoisseurs of myxomycetes or plant parasitic fungi. there gatekeeping might drive away the few people interested in the organism group. but birders? nah, there is no shortage of experts there. at least in comparison.
Gate keepers? Bird watching? What the F are you talking about. People, be individuals. Do you, extricate yourself from groups
Tourists have destroyed franchise after franchise. When things go mainstream and are tooled to the lowest common denominator, it suffers. Star Wars, Star Trek, Gaming, D&D, now Warhammer 40k.
I say keep the gate and only allow it to people who can respect the community and the hobby.
The painted bunting is still in Exeter, its been months now. Private property so its not assessible to the public, maybe a spread sheet to limit visitors would work for this situation, good idea.
Too bad it doesn't move to a more accessible feeder!