Birders as Suspected Terrorists and Criminals

The eccentric behavior of birders (e.g., lurking about in the wee hours of the night or early morning with suspicious-looking spotting scopes or long camera lenses in hand, often adjacent to secure facilities of one sort or another) can sometimes arouse the suspicions of local law enforcement officers, as described by Bob Gosford of The Northern Myth blog in a hilarious post about one woman’s unfortunate encounter in Queensland, Australia.

Bob’s posting has engendered quite a response on the BirdChat listserv from North American birders with similar experiences. To view the discussion, start here and hit "Next in topic" to advance chronologically through to the end of the thread.