Macleans - Birdwatchers behaving like paparazzi

[Brian Bailey]

I saw this article in Macleans and noticed it's also on line: Birdwatchers behaving like paparazzi.  It talks about siturations and changes many of us can relate to.

BB

[cloaca]

I'd like a look through those $5000 binoculars.

[Pat Hodgson]

article says  "Last June, the arrival of an Arctic ptarmigan turned Ontario’s Darlington nuclear station into an unlikely bus-tour destination: officials with Ontario Power Generation had to set up mass viewings because those three-winged radioactivity signs evidently weren’t enough to keep birders off the property."

I wonder if this is true or just sensationalization with a pinch of libel.  I had the impression that OPG *chose* to do this as a goodwill gesture, not as a response compelled by trespass by birders.  Even if trespass did occur, it hardly seems like setting up a bus tour would be the response.

[Trillian Flummox]

Interesting article! Is it actually becoming "cool" to be a birder? "Middle-class flash mobs" and "twitching"? I'm definitely behind on the lingo.

As for the Darlington story, I also remember it as a goodwill gesture from the OPG - I don't think it's actually possible to trespass into that high security property. They were birders, not secret agents. Here's a quote from an article in the Toronto Star at the time: "Concerned about birders flocking to the off-limits site, Ontario Power Generation flew into action to organize an expedition on Sunday. Armed escorts took three busloads of security-checked spectators from across the province and northern U.S. for a once-in-a-lifetime closeup of the chicken look-alike."

I don't suppose Macleans meant any real harm with the looseness of the facts, but it did make birders sound a little foolhardy.