Articles
- Birding Hotspots in the United States: Merrymeeting Marsh in New Durham, NH
- Birding not eco-friendly?
- The Birding Hotspot’s product gets featured in Birder’s World magazine
- Live Bird Cameras on the Web
- Pelican swallows cell phone at zoo
- Rook intelligence - link to Aesop fable?
- eBird releases list of most wanted counties
- Inside the brains of birds: Zebra Finches
- Birding Hotspots in the US: Drummond Island
- “All About Birds” Gets a Facelift
- Wader populations decline rapidly
- ABA Regional Symposium in North Dakota
- Eagle Watching banned amidst Chaos
- Heavy Optics Carrier makes light work for serious birders
- Reducing bird deaths: a matter of lighting
Birding not eco-friendly?
That’s what University of Illinois professor Spencer Schaffer claims in a surprising essay published in the August issue of the Journal of Sport & Social Issues. The article cites competitive forms of birding as relying “on both environmental protection and degradation.” Among the causes for concern listed are such popular birding pastimes as the World Series of Birding, big-year birding, and listing. What damage are these activities doing? Schaffer notes that many birders travel by car, logging many hours on the road chasing sightings from one hotspot to the next. He also implies that some birders, in getting too ‘up close and personal’ with birds in their own environment, may actually be going counter to the ideals of environmental protection. Of course, not all bird watchers are out harassing birds, and in observing and taking note of birds and their environment, are actually contributing a great deal to the science of conservation.
