Wow.  I'm not trying to prolong the thread, but there were three very
worthwhile posts on this today and I really thought I should respond.

Jen S,  Thank you for your very gracious post from today.  No apology
necessary.  You make a very good point, and it's true that when we get into
these tough subjects, a message can carry a political connotation for some
readers even when none is intended.  I'll need to keep that in mind when
writing to listserves.

Rosemarie Dougherty, Thanks for the good points about passing along our
"used" bird books and optics to people who can make good use of them.  One
possibility is to donate these to any kind of community center -- not
necessarily a nature center, but any kind of community center, especially in
economically depressed neighborhoods.  Birders who have good quality used
optics that they don't need any more could consider giving them to Birders'
Exchange.  This program (run by the American Birding Association) will find
a way to get these to researchers, rangers, naturalist guides, or others who
could use them in Latin American countries; you can find information on
Birders' Exchange at    http://www.aba.org/bex/     But it's also quite
possible that these used optics could be put to good use in programs at a
local nature center.

Bob Hinkle, Thanks for the intriguing points, which suggest that we should
look for ways to get more anglers into birding!  Thanks also for the
endorsement of  Dudley Edmondson's book, "Black and Brown Faces in America's
Wild Places."  I'm happy to say that Edmondson is one of the featured
speakers at the conference on diversity in the outdoors, happening in Toledo
on September 26.  So if you haven't read the book you can come buy a copy,
hear the author speak about his experiences, and get your book autographed.
Once again, you can find information on the conference by going to
http://www.bsbo.org/diversity_conference.htm     or by reading recent posts
on      http://birdingwithkennandkim.blogspot.com/

Again, thanks to all for the good discussion.

Kenn Kaufman
Oak Harbor, Ohio

______________________________________________________________________

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/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]