From: Robert Gosford <bgosford@gmail.com>
Date: 2010-04-01 13:06
Subject: Birders - Terrorists or Criminals - or neither?

Dear all,

As indicated/threatened elsewhere earlier this week I've prepared a blog post at my Crikey blog, The Northern Myth, based on the original post and the responses to the unfortunate incident that a female birder in Queensland, Australia had with one of the local coppers.

I've collected a few of the posts together and have thrown a few comments and thoughts of my own in - hopefully we can continue and broaden this discussion. I haven't identified any of the posters to Birding-Aus by name.

Since I posted this last evening I've had a lot of funny - and not-so-funny - responses, mainly from the US and Australia - so I thought I'd throw it out a bit wider to see what sort of experiences birders (and bird photographers) have had in other parts of the world.

You can read the blog post here: http://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2010/03/31/birdwatchers-terrorists-criminals/ - please take the time to register and share your experience - whether funny, sad or otherwise - for us all to share.

Cheers and I look forward to hearing more of your adventures with the officious, the nosy and the downright rude - and of course the good news stories where you've been able to convert disbelievers!

Bob Gosford
Ethnoornithology Research & Study Group 
Alice Springs
Australia