As many of you know, on January 20th, 2017 the adult Ivory Gull of Northern Germany that some of you went to see, and others perhaps hoped to still be able to, died of a (most likely untreatable) disease. In any case, the German authorities did not give permission to catch the gull to bring it to a bird recovery center and so its death was inevitable.
Much has been said about birders’ behaviour prior to the gull dying. On behalf of Dutch Birding I collected statements of several German and the three Dutch birders present when the gull died. First I’ll explain the extent of the ‘Dutch Birding rules of conduct’. I’ll then give a chronological overview of what happened. I will discuss what Dutch Birding believes to be inappropriate behaviour. After that I will discuss the measures Dutch Birding will take. And lastly I will give my personal opinion of what happened.
DUTCH BIRDING RULES FOR TWITCHERS
However, I’ll start with the Dutch Birding ‘Gedragsregels’ (‘rules of conduct’) (www.dutchbirding.nl/pagina/1355/gedragsregels_voor_vogelaars). Recently I updated the rules Dutch Birding presses its members to follow when twitching or otherwise viewing a bird. Many of these rules relate to respect for landowners, village inhabitants and fellow birders. However, it goes without saying that the bird’s safety and well-being is of primary concern (therefore this is rule 1). Basically, even though excitement sometimes gets the better of us, common sense should prevail at all times.
Rule 1 states that disturbance to a bird should be avoided / minimized. It also specifically states that photographers should verify whether they are not doing anything that could potentially harm the bird.
Rule 2 forbids the entering of lands for which no prior permission has been obtained.
Rule 3 asks of people to listen to what others have to say regarding the well-being of a bird.
Rule 5 asks of people to tell their fellow-twitchers to stop what they’re doing if their behaviour contradicts rules 1-4.
In the view of Dutch Birding rule 1 was clearly broken here. It seems as though rules 3 and 5 were also violated. Prior permission to enter the field was granted (at least to the persons there to collect the bird).
WHAT HAPPENED
Chronologically, this is what happened:
1. German & Dutch observers were standing on a dyke overlooking a fenced field in which the Ivory Gull was found earlier on 20 January 2017.
2. After the observers witnessed a particularly strong jerking movement of the bird, after which it disappeared, two German birders, on-site to collect the bird for autopsy after it died, told the others (in English) they would walk down alone to check whether the bird had died.
3. They were nevertheless followed into the field by two other German and three Dutch birders.
4. Upon arrival the bird was still (but barely) alive, half hidden under vegetation.
5. After taking a picture of the partly covered bird, the two other German birders left the site to not further disturb the bird; one German conducted several phone calls in order to consult the relevant authorities about how to proceed.
6. A Dutch birder picked up the bird and placed it carefully on an elevated spot in the grass in order to obtain better photographs. One of these photographs is published on Dutch Birding website.
7. From the dyke, the returned German observers meanwhile clearly voiced their negative opinions about the handling of the bird.
8. The bird eventually creeped back into cover.
9. One of the Dutch birders then approached the bird close in order to take photographs with his cell phone.
10. A few minutes later the bird died.
11. The dead bird was picked up and photographed by the Dutch birders. One of these photographs is also published on Dutch Birding website.
12. The German birder collecting the bird asked those present not to publish any of the photographs taken.
INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR
While it is understandable that people desire to get the best possible views (and/or photographs) of a (rare) bird, one should observe common sense as to how far one can go (literally and figuratively speaking).
In this particular case the bird was clearly dying, and to further aggravate its apparent distress by approaching it closely and handling it for the sake of a better picture is simply appalling.
Equally disturbing is the fact that none present prevented the handling of the distressed bird.
MEASURES AGAINST INDIVIDUALS
Recently, Dutch Birding unfortunately had to act upon a violation of rule 2 (accessing a restricted area, thereby willingly jeopardising chances of an excursion to a rare bird). In that case the culprits were not sent any Rare Bird Alerts for two months.
In the view of Dutch Birding, a Dutch birder clearly broke rule 1 here by handling a distressed bird for his own benefit: to obtain better pictures. It may be that all of those who approached the dying bird (German and Dutch) broke the rule to some extent (for which only the persons responsible for collecting the dead bird have a valuable excuse), but the handling of the bird just for better pictures in our view crosses the line in a major way. Furthermore, when asked to describe what happened in detail, the person who handled the bird lied about it. The other Dutch birders also didn’t come clean, and/or downplayed their actions by stating that ‘others also photographed the bird’.
Dutch Birding has therefore decided to withhold Rare Bird Alerts for two months from the person handling the distressed bird, and one month for the other two. All have been notified that a repeat-offence could lead to their removal from the Dutch Ranking.
Both pictures (one of the distressed bird after it was moved, and one of the dead gull being shown) will remain on this website. If only so that others can respond to this message and are able to reread the thread caused by these actions. Dutch Birding feels both images are strong reminders of how not to behave, and sincerely hopes similar actions will be avoided / aborted in the future.
MY PERSONAL VIEW
I’m not a photographer. I am a twitcher but I also have common sense. It is beyond me why someone would approach a distressed, dying bird for better photographs or views. There are only two reasons why I would approach a bird in that position: to either pick it up and bring it to an animal shelter, or to put it out of its misery.