Some more things I've found helpful for roadside birding, atlasing, and owling:

1)  Park away from houses or other buildings, and look for places
where you can pull well off the road.  If possible, use Google Maps
aerial images ahead of time to plan good parking locations near
quality habitat and away from houses.

2)  Go to a Farm and Fleet store and buy a $5.00 orange vest with
reflective tape similar to what construction workers use.  Wearing
this while birding along the roadside increases your personal safety
near traffic (especially at night) and virtually eliminates encounters
with people--both people who might otherwise view you as suspicious
and even well-meaning folks who might otherwise stop to ask if you are
OK.

3)  Hold a clipboard while birding and pretend to write things down
while cars pass by.

4)  If you are owling, avoid Friday and Saturday nights.  Many more
people are out and about on weekends than on weeknights.

5)  You will invariably have at least some encounters with people.
Have some official OBBA2 checklists and documents handy to show
people.  Mentioning OSU always does wonders!  Take advantage of the
opportunity to explain what you are doing and why it is important.

Good luck and good birding,

Dave Slager
Columbus, Ohio

On 7/30/09, Terri Martincic <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> All,
>
>  While owling for the atlas the police occasionally ask questions, mostly asking if I was OK.  One evening at the end of a housing development a curious resident stopped to chat.  He said he thought this project was in the newspaper, was that me?  Was it in the police blotter I asked?  We had a good laugh.
>
>  I did print the sign for the car from the OBBAII website, and keep it in the car window.  One time the officer took a good long look at it.  Mentioning this is an Ohio State University bird research project helps.
>
>  Peace,
>  Terri
>
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-- 
Dave Slager
Graduate Student
Terrestrial Wildlife Ecology Lab
School of Environment and Natural Resources
The Ohio State University
210 Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Road
Columbus, OH  43210-1085
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______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

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