forum etiquette( in response to Lisabirder's last post)

["Harrold, Eric S" <esharrol@email.uncc.edu>]

 Lisa,

Birders and falconers (I am all too familiar with both eccentric groups) are
inherently anti-social or at least often have socialization challenges (we
REALLY seem to get these in the northwest corner of the state). I would take
what anyone on this forum, myself included, with a grain of salt. As a
biologist, I have to laugh at some of the ridiculous assumptions that some
carolinabirds folks have about nature. 

I don't know exactly what exchange of words occurred, but nonetheless the
following applies. People should try to be respectful of others when
communicating either opinions or factual information on this forum. For
example, when someone such as a falconer extends an invitation to the
members of this forum to attend a field meet, it is not appropriate to
openly humiliate him in a replying post, even if they harbor anti-falconry
sentiments which they are entitled to do. Alienation achieves nothing, and I
have learned this the hard way a few times. I would encourage whoever it was
that dampened your spirits to reconsider their approach in the future as
well as give thought to an apology. I would also encourage you to reconsider
resigning from the forum, remembering that thoughtless people are in great
abundance in todays world.

Eric Harrold
Charlotte, NC

-----Original Message-----
From: LisaBirder@aol.com
To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
Sent: 6/26/01 6:17 PM
Subject: Mockingbirds & farewell

Hi there,

We have a nest with three baby Mockers in it in a holly just outside our
office door. The babies are just about ready to fledge. I have been
setting out a small bowl with mealworms purchased from Wild Birds
Unlimited, and they seem to be much appreciated.

When the bowl is empty, both parents stand and peer through the glass
door at me, and growl until I come out and fill the bowl up.

You'd think that my offering of meal worms would mean they wouldn't mind
if I took a look at the nest to see how the babies were faring. Wrongo.
I hadn't even touched the holly bush, and I got beaned on the back of
the head by either the mom or dad.

Which reminds me, Mockingbirds do this thing I call Mocker Aerobics. The
bird stands on the ground, takes a few steps forward, and raises
it’s wings with a kind of one-two-three-four move.  Then takes a
few more steps, and repeats.  I am inclined to think that this is a
display of some sort, so can I assume that it’s the male doing it?

So anyway, now anyone coming in or out of the front door gets
dive-bombed. I am pretty sure that this will stop once the babies
fledge. At least I hope so. We are joking about not activating the
security system at night. We don't need it; we have watchbirds.

Unfortunately, I've had an emotionally wrenching and awful last few
days, so I know that I'm taking this too hard; you don't have to tell
me. But, getting jumped on by various people for my Coyote post has kind
of been the proverbial straw. 

I had thought we were having a good conversation about the advance of
nature. I guess I should have listed pet parakeets with the cats and
dogs among the Cape Cod Coyote's victims, to keep the message on-topic.
:-)

I'm going to be leaving the list after this post. I can't believe it's
been over three years since I joined. I've had a lot of fun, and I hope
most of my posts haven't been offensive.

I apologize to everyone for the six seconds of their lives I wasted by
making them read my evil, non-birding post. :)

Lisa G.
LisaBirder@aol.com
Raleigh, NC