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Interesting current British news article with a slightly different take on matters:
http://tinyurl.com/2doo3nb
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2 comments:
I think he has some good points, but he seems to be willing to overlook how habitat destruction (and outright shooting of birds) can in fact make a bird rare and then extinct.
He doesn't believe in rare birds? The Alaorta grebe just went the way of the dodo. Is he suggesting that we're just not looking hard enough? That extinct species are still around somewhere?
But I am intrigued nonetheless. Here in Wisconsin, it is pretty difficult to find a long-eared owl, to the point that even any whisper of them on our bird list can get you promptly scolded. Hence we are told that they are a rare (and sensitive) species. Yet I hear from some people that they may be just as common here as their great-horned cousins.
By the way, long-eared owl is probably my favorite Latin name of a bird. I didn't take Latin, I just think it sounds pretty cool.
I think it is a valid point that people in the conservation world have a tendency to exaggerate the rarity and vulnerability of species. This is by no means only true with birds. Nevertheless the basic premise is oversimplistic, and it seems rather convenient that finding a live ivory-bill is "not his top priority."
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