Pecking order

Do binoculars look like the eyes of a cat to a tiny house wren? In last week’s Outdoors section, interpretative specialist Tracy Albrecht had the nerve to suggest that, when it comes to spooking wildlife, “The bird-watchers are the worst.” Birders across the state instantly flamed and, for 90 minutes, the online birder exchange Calbirds was afire.

10:59 a.m. Nov. 16, Thomas Miko: The article explained how “tiny little wrens” are terrified by binocular lenses that they think are the eyes of a monstrously oversized predator, so we birders are scaring the pants off of those poor little birdies.

11:13 a.m. Nov. 16, Linda Seebeck: If we birders are getting so close as to scare the “pants” (I assume he meant covert feathers) off of wrens, then we’re not using the right optics. Haven’t they ever heard the words “spotting scope”? I swear they write with crayons at The Times.

11:35 a.m. Nov. 16, Kimball Garrett: I am not aware of any behavioral studies that support the absurd suggestion that birders terrify wrens by looking at them through binoculars. I don’t know what kind of bad experiences this “interpretive specialist” has had with birders, but her big-eyed hypothesis is small-brained at best.

12:15 p.m. Nov. 16, Doug Shaw: Any good interpretive specialist should realize that the worst offenders to wildlife are dog walkers (particularly those unleashed dogs in sensitive habitats). Mountain bikers on illegal and closed trails are also a major problem.... A pair of binoculars should be a lot less frightening to a wren than the other types of trail users. I can see where a spotting scope might scare some waterfowl thinking it is a gun.

12:36 p.m. Nov. 16, Nathaniel Wander: People who live in optical housings shouldn’t throw stones. While the binoculars = big eyes explanation may be a lot of hooey, we all know that just turning toward a bird, let alone looking at it intensely, can disturb it. And while we are hardly “the worst,” it’s flat out dishonest to pretend that our hunting and staring have no impact on birds at all, let alone that it might not seriously compromise an already overstressed creature. Like when some poor off-course vagrant is pounded by every chaser in a thousand-mile radius.

12:22 p.m. Nov. 16, Chuck Almdale: I have experienced looking around through binos and coming upon a bird watching me and which then immediately flies off. It’s primarily with raptors such as Cooper’s or sharp-shinned Hawk. I think they don’t like being looked at, but I don’t think they’re going off to die in privacy of an apoplectic fit. Crows, jays and mockingbirds seem to welcome the challenge, and sometimes stare right back, looking far more intimidating than I ever will.... So the comment was mostly inaccurate and probably intended to irritate birders or at least poke them with a gentle, joshing finger in the ribs and to amuse and misinform the mostly ignorant wider public.

12:36 p.m. Nov. 16, Steven Sosensky: OK, Calbirders, before this becomes a flame war, I’m closing the thread.

Source: calbirds@yahoogroups.com