Dear Bird Watchers, Plant Lovers, Insect Enthusiasts and in general all people who love Nature.
My name is Simon Brumby, and I am one of the above people. I really and genuinely care about the place we live and find it infinitely interesting.
Four years ago I moved to Holland to be with my girlfriend, and now I fill my time in-between work with walking in the dunes and forests of Noord Holland. Birdwatching has a special appeal to me, and I am lucky enough to be in an area where there are many good active “Vogelaars”.
North Holland presents many outstanding opportunities for a birdwatcher, migration time can be quite spectacular and can-and often does throw up some fantastic birds. These Birds attract many many people, sometimes hundreds over the course of a day, sometimes way more than that... And hear is were it gets difficult...
I appreciate peoples “need” to get the picture or “film” (as was the case this evening) of the rare species, we all would like too I think its safe to say. However!
At what point does a “Birdwatcher” become a “Bird Chaser”, because I can tell you that is what happened this evening!
At what point do people decide there need for the photo is greater than the birds need to rest/forage or maybe just shelter from all the people that are stood a handful of meters away?
At what point do people decide that walking in a 1 meter grid pattern through the undergrowth where the bird had been seen take cover 10 min's earlier, to flush it out! is good and reasonable behaviour?
The sad fact is, the more of these “twitch” worthy birds I go to the more I see people (mostly photographers or people with film equipment) disregard what I, and I think the large majority of the users of Waarneming,nl and dutchbirding.nl, would consider to be rational behaviour, with the justification that its a “rare” species... It needs to stop.
In short, I feel saddened, disappointed and quite angry at the behaviour of a number of people at the Olive-backed Pipit this evening(16/10/12 16:00hrs+). I find it difficult to understand how anyone can justify walking off path intentionally to flush a bird like that, ESPECIALLY when the bird all-day has been easy to see. And especially when you are a person of note, people do know who you are and do/did look up to you in some way or another.
Fellow naturalists it falls upon the community to self moderate in times like this, as it is quite clear that people are not accountable for there own actions when in the presence of some kind of filming/photography device.
Is it not detrimental to other “birders” if the bird is moved on? Is it not detrimental to other Photographers/Film makers if, photographer and “bird chaser” are synonymous?
These are Wild animals! Not fat tame birds you find in the Zoo, and they do fly off and they are sometimes difficult to see and even harder to photograph! Chasing them helps NO ONE LONG TERM!
Yours sincerely
Simon Brumby
brumby.simon@gmail.com