I enjoy bird watching, almost exclusively in Yakima County, Washington. I like to look at individual birds, to really study them -- how they act, how one individual looks ever so slightly different from another,.... I try hard to document rarities I find with photos, and post many cruddy documentation pictures -- what I call "Loch Ness photos".

I do volunteer fieldwork on a White-headed Woodpecker study of Jeff Kozma at the Yakama Nation. For another woodpecker study I've done skywork -- aerial telemetry searching for missing transmittered woodpeckers. In the winter I maintain the Poppoff Sparrow Patch on the southern end of the Yakima Greenway Path, where you're welcome to rest on my Group W Bench made from discarded pallets. One or two rare species show up there each year. I've done other volunteer work for the Yakama Nation and for the Washington State Audubon Society. Irruptively I do trash pick-ups at Wenas Lake, along the Yakima Greenway path in the Poppoff Trail neighborhood, and at random spots where I stop to bird. I like doing volunteer work, and hope that it in small measure provides a counterbalance to negative impacts of some bird listers.

I work to get birders access to new & private locations, and to counteract the bad reputation some local problem children (all legally adults) have brought upon the rest of us. I strive to bird ethically, following the ABA Code of Birding Ethics. I've tried for several years to get several of the most competitive listers in the county to also abide by that code, but so far I've failed in that. I think that trespassing, lying, and harassing rare birds in order for them to claim species on their lists is disgraceful and inexcusable, as is claiming my finds as if they were theirs. They're poachers. I think that correcting mistakes is a necessary part of Good Birding.

Good birding -- Enjoying observing birds, and trying to give eBird and Washington Birder accurate data.

Please always consider the sensitivity of birds, nearby humans, and the environment.

If you see something, Say Something: Don't enable illegal and unethical birders -- poachers. Call them as you see them.

Don't pish or use playback on rare or sensitive birds or in heavily birded areas.

Please Follow this Code and Distribute and Teach it to Others: ABA Code of Birding Ethics.

Whistle blower