[mou] MOU membership

Wed Aug 15 12:43:47 EDT 2007

Richard Wood <rwoodphd at yahoo.com> wrote:
        Hi all,

I want to thank Steve for his answer to my question about why I (or anyone, for that matter) should join the MOU.

That being said, even though I consider myself to be a serious birder, I'm not sure if the MOU is an organization I would join, mostly for financial reasons.

  Richard you have the money remember you have a PH.D! LOL

At this time, all I really need from the MOU is access to its web site, which I can, and am doing, for free.  I don't have any bird projects that require grants (I would think that one wouldn't need to be a member of an organization to get grant money from it), nor do I agree with how data is collected per the records process (should one support a process that is done in a way they disagree with?), and the paper session, I could probably live without that (I'm more interested in my own papers that I have to write as well as those of others in my field).  One also need not be a member of the vehicle of a group in order to be able to associate with that group.  I've met quite a few birders on my outings and found them to be very nice; the fact that they or I are or were MOU members had nothing to do with our interaction.

  Richard please do not join the MOU!  

I don't want it to sound like I am "dissing" the MOU, because I am not.  I'm just saying that at this time, my dollar is already stretch so thin that it's transparent, so I really need to justify what I put my money into, and at this time, I wouldn't be getting enough back on my investment if I was to join the MOU.

  Richard you have dissed the MOU!

Someone wrote me last night and suggested that I "get better acquainted with the MOU Records Committee".  I'm curious as to why I should do that.  I'm sure that they probably wouldn't want to deal with me. knowing that I am not fully 100% behind the way that they do their "job".  It was also mentioned to me that "clearly you are not a biological scientist".  No, I'm not, but there is a process that a scientist goes through in the name of gathering data, which should be the same, whether one is a chemist, physicist or biologist, and that is, you gather the data, draw your conclusions, based on the data, and then publish to a "peer-reviewed" journal.  During this process, none of your data falls by the wayside, even if it's so bad that it doesn't fit your hypothesis. 

  The hobby of birdwatching doesn't need scientists like yourself.  We are doing just fine without you. 

Shouldn't birding be like that?  As it stands now, there is a person that will look at the results of CBC's and will "throw out" observations that that person deems to have not happened; kind of like the times I used to report seeing Baltimore Orioles in San Antonio, TX during migration to ebird, and someone there would write back to me and tell me that I didn't see Baltimore Orioles, when in fact, we did.  This happened on several occasions.
This may not bother many (if any) of you, but to me there is something so wrong in all of this that, to me, it almost borders on scientific misconduct, the fact that one can do an "experiment", using us as data collectors, and throw out any of our observations, on nothing more than a whim. and say I didn't give them enough "evidence".  Heck, one gentleman that I know of submitted the pages from his notebook as part of his report and they said, "you didn't see that...".  Good grief.

  Richard on one of your records you submitted to the Utah records committee along with photo of the hummingbird, well it was turned down because the "high priests" of birding determine it was another species of hummingbird that is common to see in the state plus a author of a very well known hummingbird guide (woman) agreed with the Utah records committee!!  I know- I know you are a scientists with a PH.D and anytime you say you something unusual we MUST believe in you and your experience as a birder! Well Richard I did a lot of research on you and you made several ID mistakes you either posted on some listserv and if anyone disagrees with you and offers other possibilities you lose it!  
    Richard as long as you live in Minnesota I will not believe in any rare, casual, out of range or season bird species you spot and then share on this listserv.  I never met anyone like yourself! You move to Minnesota, you join the MOU-listserv and before you really had a chance to understand the MOU you bashed the organization, the people on the records committee, you bashed some people on this listserv, you labeled local bird experts as "high priests of birding" and you did all this in less than 3 1/2 months of living in Minnesota! Congrats Richard!!  
    I already contacted someone on the MOU-listserv and hopefully with my input they will put you on the moderator's list so they can moderate your rants against the MOU, MOURC and others like myself. You have a long history of doing this in New York, Virginia, Texas, Utah and Maryland listservs!  I know I know Richard it wasn't your fault you were only "questioning" them!  

  If you hate the MOU so much why not join the Minnesota Bird Conservation? You will fit right in!

  Mike H.

But I digress...

Good birding,
Richard

  Richard L. Wood, Ph. D.
Hastings, MN
rwoodphd at yahoo.com

  ----- Original Message ----
From: Steve Weston <sweston2 at comcast.net>
To: mnbird <mnbird at lists.mnbird.net>; Mou-net <mou-net at moumn.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 12:09:26 AM
Subject: [mou] MOU membership

      Recently the question came up on why should someone join the Minnesota Ornithologist's Union.  I joined after I became what I considered to be a serious birder.  Here are some of the reasons why I continue to be a member.

  1)  It is the state organization of birders and as such, it is an group that I feel part of and want to associate with.

  2)  I joined so I could start receiving "The Loon" publication, which I read as soon as it arrives.

  3)  I enjoy the paper session in December which I attend every year.

  4)  Look at the website: http://moumn.org/ .  There ain't nothing like it in any of the other states.  I especially like the occurrence maps 
  (http://moumn.org/cgi-bin/occurrence.pl?group=ducks&season=all ).  When Tony Lau asked about Red-breasted Nuthatches in the summer in Wright County, I checked the maps.  He definitely is living on the edge of its range.  I found it interesting that there is a breeding record for Dakota County, but no summer reports.  I use the maps all the time.  There is nothing like this on any other state organization website.

  5)  Something that I appreciate is the support that MOU provides for Christmas Bird Counts.  I use the list every year to help plan my schedule.

  6)  The MOU provides grants for bird projects.  I am interested in whether the nesting platforms for the Common Nighthawks will have an impact.

  7)  They are the keepers of the data on what birds are being seen where in the state.

  Yeah, you could report the birds you saw and use the website for free.  But, I prefer to support the website, and the data collection, and the publication of the Loon, and the grants, and the organization that puts them together.  Thank you MOU people.

  Steve Weston

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