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April 2012

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Bill Jones <[log in to unmask]>
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Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:10:55 -0400
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I'm probably opening myself to negative feedback, but I'm compelled to address -- tactfully I hope -- what many consider a minor point. Some birders do affect avifauna negatively to some extent by fragmenting habitat when repeatedly pursuing birds into the bush. Witness, for example, the fragmentation of most of the birding hot spots along Lake Erie -- Headlands arguably being the worst. Just look at the Google satellite images to see the dense network of "trails" covering these areas; it's difficult to determine where the original trails were. (The exceptions, of course, are the sites with boardwalks and railings. Imagine Magee without the boardwalk.) Although there probably aren't and won't be any studies done on this, it's hard to believe that opening even these small  ecosystems to predators and more close-up birders with freshly beaten paths does not stress the resting or feeding migrants and especially nesting birds. Destruction of flora is another discussion.  I can almost equate this practice with beach walkers strolling though the middle of large mixed flocks of resting terns, gulls and shorebirds as though the birds were stones.  I have been, by the way, an avid birder for more decades than I care to mention, and have probably been guilty of these incursions on occasion.    
This somewhat off topic discussion was prompted by some recent positive postings about what is allowed on Ohio Birds. To legitimize this post further, Mill Creek Wildlife Sanctuary  in Mahoning county has almost 100 species so far this calendar year including 20 species of waterfowl and a productive eagle nest along with many other interesting species.  Email me for access or see Jeff Harvey at Wild Birds Unlimited in Boardman. Happy birding.      
 
Bill Jones
Canfield (Youngstown)



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