Contrast this with baiting: groups of photographers show up, regularly or semi-regularly, and supply an owl with live bait. A lot on the weekends, less during the week. And then a serious coldsnap hits, photographers stop showing up, and the owl, who has been induced to remain on a sub-optimal hunting ground because of this artificial food supply, is left high and dry. How long does he remain, waiting for his luck to improve? The photographers have fed the owl when it served their purposes--when they wanted to \'get the shot\'--with no regard for what happens once they move on to something else. Multiply this by the number of people doing the same thing in a given area, and we are talking the potential for real harm.
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While the situation that you describe above is clearly what is happening following many of the rare owl sightings, it also applies to what is happening at some of the popular eagle photography locations where the eagles are being baited.
On Saturdays and Sundays, when large numbers of photographers are present, the bait fish draw more eagles into the area than the natural supply of fish can sustain. Then, during the middle of the week when no bait fish are being supplied, those eagles must seek out other sources of food. On the coldest winter days, the eagles have little reserve of energy to spare, and open water can be rare. The energy that needs to be expended to search for another source of food has a real potential of putting the bird\'s survival at risk.
Les
Feb 04, 2013 at 08:39 AM
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