We can simply agree to disagree, I did not take the low road at all. It was you who said anyone who got out of their car was a "bird harasser" and should feel shame for being 299 feet away. If you lead with the well thought out post below you may not have gotten the replies that irked you. I was there for 7 hours Saturday. No one was feet away from the bird. The owl was not stressed. It was quite comfortable in its surroundings. The bird was not flushed once, period end of sentence. I appreciate the well thought out reply but disagree with the earlier assertion that 299 feet makes one a "bird harasser" who should be shamed. I know for a fact folks read your earlier posts and were scared off by your misinformation and scare tactics. I own both a camera and a spotting scope. Neither gives me moral superiority over another human being.---Scott
On Monday, February 27, 2017 at 11:49:28 AM UTC-5, Richard Harris Podolsky wrote:Let's all keep cool heads and not go down the low road. We all love wildlife and bird and all agree that no one wants to bring harm.
But the reality for these northern visitors is that they are here specifically in search of food. Presumably because food is scarce at home or there is more competition from more owls having survived the warmer recent winters with low snow cover - or both may be operating. Bottom line though is for these birds it is all about finding enough food to survive the winter and breed this spring.
The Code of Conduct posted for nature photographers are a great start but they don't integrate the huge literature that exists on safe buffer distances for birds. I have written to author and offered to help with that.
Three hundred feet is generally considered a MINIMUM distance to keep as a to allow birds like owls, shorebirds and waders the distance they need to keep a semblance of their natural behavior. Birds at feeders should be given a minimum 100-foot buffer. My own personal feeling is that it is best not to even enter the fields and habitats where the birds are feeding - even if you are honoring a 300-foot buffer from its current perch. Best to stay on the road and leave the entire field to the bird to forage within as it sees fit. Under the those conditions the bird may or may reveal itself to you. But when it does it more exciting than tramping into the habitat on a stake out of the bird.
No one can easily say if this or any other bird is finding enough food to offset energetic expenses. Even a bird without a throng of observers in its view can fail to find enough food and starve let alone a bird burdened with having to respond to human presence.
This isn't being overly protective or an owl hugger. When birds are kept from feeding by human intruders or the crows and ravens they may attract, it results in a double whammy;
a). they are feeding less, and
b). they are burning calories fleeing intruders.
Flight is the most energetically expensive behavior birds do. So, replacing foraging time with flying is a bad equation for birds – especially those birds like owls that may be right on the edge of starvation. Don't you agree? No lie, this could lead to starvation or in the bird realizing they cannot optimally forage and depart otherwise good habitat if not for humans.
Indeed, we are experiencing higher than normal mortality of owls this winter from starvation - especially barred owls and saw whets. Even a few days of heavy snow cover can put owls at risk of not finding enough food to maintain. My neighbor brought me a dead, emaciated adult saw whet she found during the blizzard. I have heard that barred owls are also having trouble too. Call and ask Avian Haven if you don't believe me.
Photographers need to be reminded that their awesome long lenses are for capturing images of birds IN THE WILD. By relying upon their long lenses and blinds and being patient - photographers capture better action shots because the birds have sufficient room to behave naturally. When you approach a bird to within a few feet you only get pictures of stressed bird starting blankly at you.
The upshot of entering owl hunting habitats and approaching closer than several hundred feet is that the birds may simply depart otherwise sustaining habitats or, they might fail to get the meals they need to survive the next snow storm. Let's stay all try to stay the right side of this issue and give these visiting birds even more than you think they might need.
Richard
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