I've sent a reply to Mr. Saunders, and know I am sending a (different) reply to the rest of you.
I have several things to say in response to this, so here goes.
1. About my "smartass replies" I will say this. They are only as "smartass" as you take them to be. I have noticed that people are rather "uppity" in this area, and not as friedly as Mr. Saunders lets them on to be. I'm sorry that I am from Maine and we are more cynical and sarcastic there, and I'm sorry that you can't take a little sarcasm. The fact is, no one tells you that you couldn't have seen a Connecticut warbler in a "friendly tone". Also, about this friendliness, one day when I was birding on the NCR trail, I was wearing my Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots sweatshirt, and some guy out of the blue says, "Not this year, buddy..." You call that friendly?
2. How does my being told, "You couldn't have seen a Wood Thrush..." make ME look bad?
3. If I'm not an "advanced birder", I don't know what I am. I'm certainly past beginner and intermediate. I've birded with Ken Rosenberg, Kevin and Jay McGowan, Pat and Clay Sutton, Pete Hosner (who won the GTBC (Great Texas Birding Classic) in 2003) and others. The people at Cornell I've birded with regularly in the past. I've never claimed to be an expert. Yet many on this list have, including those that told me, "you couldn't have seen a ...". Those and the record people are the type I refer to as the "High Priests of Local Birding". I'm sorry if I offended anyone; on the other hand, does anyone ever consider that the person they tell this to may be offended upon hearing it? All this is supposedly in the name of science.
4. I would think that if I have to learn to live with "live with this community of Maryland birders" that you would all have to learn to live with me as well. I'm not like you and I can tolerate a lot. I would think that if you all are friendly as so willing to teach what you know, that you could easily tolerate someone like me.
In other words, put your money where your mouth is, great birders of Maryland.
Richard
p.s. I'm not changing my signature. It took me a lot of hard work to EARN my degree and I am proud that I did earn it, without getting any breaks along the way.
Richard L. Wood, Ph. D.
Computational Chemist
Cockeysville, MD 21030
----- Original Message ----
From: Norm Saunders <>
To:
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 6:28:46 PM
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Post Article on Albatross--AKA Great Black-Backed Gull
You know Richard I have about had it with your smartass replies
whenever you feel so moved. This is, for the most part, a friendly
community of folks who share birds as a passion. I have steadfastly
ignored DEMANDS that you be banned from the list because you only
make yourself look bad, but believe me, my patience is wearing very,
very thin.
Now, the next time you feel moved to post a sarcastic comment on
MDOsprey, bite your tongue, okay? Believe it or not you are not an
advanced birder and with your sarcastic and abrasive attitude may
never achieve that eminence. Why not? Because the great birders
(and I certainly don't count myself to being even close to that
distinction) get that way with mentors and with the example of other
great birders surrounding them.
Either learn to live with this community of Maryland birders or
not--the choice is yours.
Norm Saunders
Owner, MDOsprey
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Maryland Birds & Birding
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Richard Wood
> Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 4:16 PM
> To:
> Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Post Article on Albatross--AKA Great
> Black-Backed Gull
>
> The high priests strike yet again.
>
> Richard L. Wood, Ph. D.
> Computational Chemist
> Cockeysville, MD 21030
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: John Sherwood <>
> To:
> Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 3:59:19 PM
> Subject: [MDOSPREY] Post Article on Albatross--AKA Great
> Black-Backed Gull
>
> The Post needs some avian education. First, it misidentified
> a Red Bellied Woodpecker as a "Yellow Bellied Woodpecker" in
> its recent birding video:
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2006/03/03/
VI2006030300797.html
> and now this: Doesn't the Post have any birdheads on its
> staff? We're all entitled to make some mistakes but this is
> getting absurd.
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/1
1/AR2006031101203.html ANIMAL WATCH Hooked Albatross Rescued >
From River Piling Sunday, March 12, 2006; Page C02
> ALEXANDRIA, Union Street South, 700 block, March 1. Animal
> control was asked to pick up an albatross that had a leg
> stuck in a piling near a dock on the Potomac River. With the
> help of the Alexandria Fire Department, animal control took a
> boat to the piling and caught the bird, which had a fishhook
> stuck in its leg. The albatross was taken to an animal
> hospital for treatment, then transferred to a wildlife
rehabilitator.
>
>
>
> |