john@nmtsun.nmt.edu (John Shipman) (07/30/89)
Although I'm a birdwatcher and not a bird owner, I for one don't mind the pet bird postings. I'm curious about birds generally, and I find the discussions of bird behavior and diet quite informative. This is a low-volume group; even though this week was the first time I ever had to use subject search in rec.birds, the volume is nowhere that of most of the groups I plow through. The suggestion that the bird owners move to rec.pets is an old one. They have often replied that they have trouble finding bird postings amongst the many cat and dog items. I don't think splitting up rec.pets or rec.birds will work either; I have seen efforts to split groups out of rec.music.misc fail repeatedly despite much larger interest groups. Finally, I'd like to throw one entirely gratuitous flame in the direction of the bird owners. Please try to avoid buying birds that were taken from the wild. There are many species being bred in captivity, so whether you like them small or large, quiet or vocal, you have many choices that don't diminish dwindling wild populations. I commend the efforts of breeders to establish self-sustaining captive populations. And please don't tell me that the Black-and-Blue Macaw is plentiful enough in the wild to survive some harvesting. The passenger pigeons used to blacken the sky. Now they're extinct. -- John Shipman/Zoological Data Processing/Socorro, New Mexico USENET: ucbvax!unmvax!nmtsun!john CSNET: john@nmtsun.nmt.edu ``A lesson from past over-machined societies...the devices themselves condition the users to employ each other the way they employ machines.'' --Frank Herbert
gh0t+@andrew.cmu.edu (Gordon Hester) (07/31/89)
Like John Shipman, I don't really mind the postings from pet bird owners, although I agree that they are inconsistent with original purpose of this bboard. However, I would like to suggest that both birders and bird owners take care to use subject lines that make it easy to tell in which class their messages fall. That should, I would think, be sufficient to avoid any conflicy over net use. I'm inclined to think that I recall that birders' messages pick up significantly during migration seasons and are also somewhat more frequent in winter than in summer. I could be wrong about the latter. gordon hester
susans@cfi.COM (susans) (07/31/89)
In article <3012@nmtsun.nmt.edu> john@nmtsun.nmt.edu (John Shipman) writes: >The suggestion that the bird owners move to rec.pets is an >old one. They have often replied that they have trouble >finding bird postings amongst the many cat and dog items. > I was wondering when someone was going to point out that discussing birds in rec.birds is frowned upon if you've actually GOT the bird. The name of this group should have been rec.birdwatching, but it's not, and the volume of birdwatcher postings is sooooo low that I wish the birdwatchers would just accept the pet bird postings. It gets tiresome wading through the kitty poop postings in rec.pets. >Finally, I'd like to throw one entirely gratuitous flame in >the direction of the bird owners. Please try to avoid >buying birds that were taken from the wild. Here Here! Well said. -- Susan Scheide Just Another Friend of Bill's
mm@cloud9.Stratus.COM (Mike Mahler) (08/02/89)
In article <3012@nmtsun.nmt.edu>, john@nmtsun.nmt.edu (John Shipman) writes: > Finally, I'd like to throw one entirely gratuitous flame in > the direction of the bird owners. Please try to avoid > buying birds that were taken from the wild. There are many > species being bred in captivity, so whether you like them > small or large, quiet or vocal, you have many choices that > don't diminish dwindling wild populations. I commend the > efforts of breeders to establish self-sustaining captive > populations. Interesting point John and one that I've pushed myself since being involved with birds. Wild birds are often much cheaper than hand raised babies and other domestic birds which makes it tough to convince the beginner to buy a domestic bird when they will often have to pay 50-100% than what they'd pay for the wild caught birds. I've noticed that many parrots are "in vogue" lately and that the higher income bracket people are buying hand raised babies (one local shop only carries hand raised babies of all species he carries) which is good but some birds don't breed well in captivity (as you are well aware I'm sure) and are pursued in the wild. In Australia many cockatoos are killed by farmers routinely (and legally) due to heavy crop destruction. Birds that used to be killed with shotguns are being captured and sold to buyers in the US (though that's being limited as well). It's a complex situation. Do we push to have the birds imported rather than killed? On the other hand the Hyacinth Macaw is very rare and there are efforts to see that people yearning to own one had better yearn to own it's other half for breeding attempts which is a very positive move. Do we limit the importation of the Hyacinth where the importation (with associated restrictions) itself might help future survival of the species? No easy solution but I'm all for doing my part. People own wild caught birds may be supporting black marketeers who regularly smuggle birds in fenders, wheel covers and body panels of vehicles heading accross the boarder. Result: 50-60% mortality rate! Buy from a reputable dealer. Insist on papers. Buy domestic when possible.
sandra@pyrtech (Sandra Macika) (08/04/89)
In article <552@cfiprod.UUCP> susans@cfiprod.UUCP (Susan Scheide -CFI-) writes: > I was wondering when someone was going to point out that > discussing birds in rec.birds is frowned upon if > you've actually GOT the bird. The name of this group > should have been rec.birdwatching, but it's not, and > the volume of birdwatcher postings is sooooo low > that I wish the birdwatchers would just accept the pet > bird postings. It gets tiresome wading through the > kitty poop postings in rec.pets. > I had 47 articles! I read the new regularly, and don't consider this to be low volume. Let's stick to the original charter of the group. Sandra