Gatekeeping Case Study: No Access

Rare birds showing up in areas with limited access is a major challenge for birders, but this video uses a recent (May 2024) example of a Willow Ptarmigan in a private Maine (USA) neighborhood as a case study for how you can set rules and manage groups to still get people in to these restricted areas.

0:00 Intro
0:52 Willow Ptarmigan overview
2:03 2024 Maine records
4:19 Found it!
5:21 Getting access
7:19 Disaster
8:12 Wrap up

[stevensaunders]

Personally, I don’t need to track down a rarity for my life list, it’s not why I enjoy birding. I understand there are others who do, but birding is not like going to a museum to see a famous painting on loan from another museum where you need a ticket to see it. I trust gatekeepers who love birding and get called by others to see these types of rarities. I’m sure it’s challenging who to call and I think you did the best in this situation given the private location. I’m sorry this one had such a sad ending, but hopefully this may have sparked an interest in the homeowner to get into birding and be another voice for conservation. Thank you for your thoughtfulness and making this video.

[RayBrown-lhnd]

Thanks, Doug, for this terrific video. FWIW, I thought you handled the whole process beautifully. Sad to hear about the outdoor cats.

[RayBrown-lhnd]

Thanks, Doug, for this terrific video. FWIW, I think you handled the whole process beautifully. Sad to hear about those outdoor cats.

[p.b.childbirding]

Thank you for this video. It is very helpful to me to see this side of the story. I find myself nearly always being critical of gatekeepers, but when I have a way to investigate a .little, nine times out of ten the gatekeepers are performing a valuable service. I am the kind of birder who will never be part of the "inside" group, so I find publicity of birds behind closed gates frustrating. My opinion has evolved to the point that I try to see the gatekeepers point of view and cut them some slack. My one continued gripe on this topic is people who post pictures or boast of seeing great birds on social media or internet sites, and then tell us it is "Secret". I am happy there are people such as yourself who do your best and make good judgments regarding the rules, but not so happy about the tone from some others of the chosen few.

[gavinedmondstone]

I think you played it as well as you could have. In Ontario we have controlled crowds on private property by using online sign-ups for time slots and requiring car-pooling when parking is tight - these are on the honour system. A donation jar is sometimes used to offset damage to lawns, pay for bird food or just for the homeowner to donate to a charity.

In 2011 a Willow Ptarmigan turned up on the grounds of a nuclear power plant. One time access was granted for all who showed up at the appointed time. Ontario Power Generation provided a bus to shuttle us from the parking area to the viewing area. The previous Ontario record was in the 19th Century but we have had a couple more since then.

[TheDutchBirder]

Funny enough in about two hours a video of mine goes live in which I discuss this exact topic. I think that if there was the intention that everybody would get a chance to see the bird if it would have stayed long enough you handled well! 👍

[brighteyedbirding]

What a tragic ending! Dang feral cats haha. Glad some people got to see the bird. Gated communities are a birder's worst nightmare when vagrants show up so I'm glad it was accessible at least to a handful of people.

[alexcarrierhitchcox]

“Like finding ice cream in the vegetable drawer” 😂

[Whimbrel]

Very thoughtfully and organized piece on gatekeeping in birding. This is a true phenomenon. In my local community of Central Ohio we have a large group of birders, which is fantastic! And with any group, there is generally a hierarchy. We have a core group of 3-5 people who are the “leaders” and get to make all the decisions on myriad topics. If someone finds a rarity they are always the next to know, primarily for an ID, and they will decided the conditions to be followed when allowing other birders to observe.

Personally, I do not subscribe to this method and I find it leads to group think, inequities, information decimation bias, judgements, etc. It is inherently setting up the group to be bifurcated. It creates the experts and the general population. Us and them. If the leadership were democratic it might be more palatable but what the hell would that look like! 😂. In the end I suppose I sound more like a college professor than birder. Over the years my opinion has softened, I do not allow situations like this to steal my happiness.

These days, I practice gratitude for the leaders of our birding community, they have done so much to educate people on birds and the importance of protecting them and their habitats. They are all good people, some I have had arguments with, I have let all that go. Keep up the great work, Doug! My girlfriend and I are going to retire to Maine someday. Last year’s vacation to Scarborough Marsh and Acadia sold us on its beauty and peace.

[RoyceMarcus]

Another great video Doug. I'm really impressed by the coordination efforts put in here and seems like you did the best you could. Also couldn't agree more with the word "equitable" which you mentioned a few times. Ultimately - life isn't fair nor equitable - and I think that's an important lesson birding tends to teach. Learning to both embrace it, but also deepen ties in the community/get in the field more helps increase luck (as mentioned in another video of yours).

You've mentioned the app group me a few times. I'd love to see a video on how this is managed in your area (especially if you manage one). We have one in my area for rare birds and - while it has gotten better - I found it can also be a source for a lot of drama and discouragement - especially for newer members/birders and can have an air of snobism or elitism - especially if you don't play by the unwritten rules.

I feel like there are probably better tools/mediums for groups like this (I.e. discord) - but migrating a whole community to that (especially in the older spectrum) would probably be impossible.

[HeavyTFreal]

Trespassing is a victimless crime. My opinion is: as long as you aren’t intruding directly on someone’s lawn or in their home, and you aren’t stealing crops or hunting or whatever, it’s only a crime if you get caught. Land doesn’t belong to people, people belong to the land. Too many people have too much land that they don’t use and it wouldn’t hurt anyone if you snuck in there without anyone knowing.

[MJCfromCT]

Maybe it's the pessimist in me, but I think that if the bird was around for a few more days, the situation would have become unmanageable. The small group of ethical birders would morph into a larger group with questionable birding ethics, photographers that wouldn't think twice to walk through the neighbor's property to get a better angle for a shot, etc. We see this every winter in MA when the Snowy Owls arrive. :(

[jonw]

It's simple : If it's not your property and it's posted, get permission unless you want to either get charged with trespassing or possibly shot (depending on "castle doctrine" laws in your state).

[honeymermaid-sofj]

This was certainly a difficult situation with a lot of limitations. I want to point out one (to me glaring) issue of elitism or for lack of a better term, favoritism, in the community: if a situation like this were to happen again, would you reach out to the same dozen or so people to offer first access to a location? In this case, the same handful of people will repeatedly be the lucky few to see rare birds before the birds move on or meet an untimely end. How many of these chosen few are men? How many are white men? Just food for thought about who this group of lucky birders were and why it might lead to tension and sore feelings in the community, even while knowing you were in a tight spot.

[JG-nmzk]

"A very rare bird" brah thats a chicken.

[Clarence_x]

That’s cool. Why don’t you learn to fly a bird or bat instead of watching them?

[VoorTrekker]

One of the great dilemmas of my life... I'm a bird enthusiast that also loves cats. Also for the record, I think you handled the situation very well. Anyone who complains is free to try and do it better themselves.