I just read on Birdchick's (Sharon Stiteler) blog is that the KEY to running a good bird trip is the FOOD! HUH? I been running and organizing trips for nearly 25 years and also been guiding people from all over the globe for nearly 30 years. Everytime I ask the person or group that I am guiding/leading I always tell them this "Do ya want to eat at a real nice restaurant and spend about 1-2 hours inside or do want to get a sandwich at the ICO or Little Store gas station and eat in the car and tally up more birds?" The answer is always the same and its goes like this, "We came here to see birds and I can always eat good later on tonight". Birders that participate in groups that take you out to another state to view birds are not interested in hot meals during the day! They rather see their target birds vs. sitting in a booth waiting for their food, waiting for others to finish their food or coffee, waiting for the bill, waiting for others to finish their business in the restrooms, waiting for the conversation to turn about getting back in the van or bus and get back to birding. Birders that I know would rather eat some sandwich at McDonald's or Subway and be out in the field pronto!
I am leading two groups of highly energize people that travel who knows where to view their target species in Colorado. There are several things on my mind during the trip, 1. Get to the locations on a timely basis to view target birds. 2. Find target bird and put target bird on a scope. 3. Make sure EVERYONE sees the target bird or birds! 4. Check the area out for other birds and call out all birds in that location because you never know who might need what for their list. 5. Get back in van and inform the group of the next stop and what birds we expect to find there and also ask to see who needs a restroom! As for breakfast & lunch I announce where and when and give the group options as to how they rather eat. Do they rather eat in a diner, gas station, fast food or fancy restaurant. I tell them the ups and downs of all the selections on how it might effect the trip/schedule. I will do whatever the group wants to do but like I said it always comes down to birders rather be in the field looking for birds or driving around out in the boon docks looking for birds vs. spending valuable time locked into a restaurant. In my opinion the best time to eat at restaurants with a birding group is during dinner. EVERYTIME I give selections and discuss the selections, birders will always vote for a quick meal and more birds. That is the main KEY in having a successful birding trip - I promise you!
Well March 28th I will be meeting with the Toivola-Meadowlands Community leaders and chat with them about their reactions to my projects & festival ideas. Everytime I think about the progress I am making with this community, I wonder why this other group called the "Friends of Sax Zim Bog" never got this far with this group? I wonder why they never thought about a birding festival or speak out about the logging issues in the area? Why did this group just accepted the reasoning of the state loggers reps on why they have to log certain areas of the bog versus debating them and their reasons? The answer is that the chair of the this group is head of the nearby region of the DNR Non-Game Division and IF she voiced her opinions against the logging that the DNR has backed, then she would of been openly criticizing her own employers!
The group is dead and also while this group was active it did nothing and I mean NOTHING in getting Sax Zim Bog going in the right direction! Maybe and hopefully after they see the one man team of Mike Hendrickson, they will see what they could of done or should done rather than just talking about ideas and doing nothing in getting their ideas up and running! Since the group composed of some goverment workers (DNR, Forestry and ect) doesn't this show a clear example of how these folks operate or work. For example the group has data in puttng together a map/brochure for the area and its been nearly 3 years and the data is still sitting in someone's computer! Kim Eckert with help from myself and many other birders put together a bird list of birds that have occured in the area and their status and of course all this data is getting dusty because the group sat on their asses and did nothing with this data! The DNR hired Mark Stensaas who then asked me to help with a Sax Zim Bog brochure of birds in the area and this was 2+ years ago! The DNR has yet to produce this brochure and pay Mark and myself for all the work we did on it! Yep again folks the DNR are a bunch of fat asses and when I say the DNR I mean every branch of the Minnesota DNR are bunch of fat lazy asses wasting out tax payers money sitting on their asses doing nothing constructive! The only person who I respected was Carrol Henderson but because he was so pro active with the non game division ( you know the division that means nothing to the DNR because its just a PR division to please environmentalists) well Carrol got shift around and basically ruined the non-game division.
I quess it really down to us and mean us birders to get things done rather than asking the DNR to help or get them involve on projects because getting involve means to them by sending a rep to attend meeting and that is all. I will get these projects up and running in Sax Zim Bog because the leaders of this community are interested and eager to bring in birders to their area.
What pisses me off the most about all the logging that is currently going on in the Sax Zim area, is that the Minnesota DNR could of at anytime haulted the logging because it was detrimental to the bog birds that nested in the bog, the plants that occur in the bog BUT NOOOOOO the Minnesota DNR allowed this to happen and were happy to see the logging occur in these bogs!
Later!
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