Re: [cobirds] Interpretation of state-wide Public Health Order

Hello everyone,

I rarely post, and I am sorry to do so by getting involved in such a discussion.  

The public health order states:

"All travel, including, but not limited to, travel by automobile or public transit, except Necessary Travel is prohibited."

"Necessary Travel.  For purposes of this order, travel is Necessary for any of the following purposes: (1) providing or accessing Necessary Activities, Minimum Basic Operations, Critical Government Functions, and Critical Businesses; (2) receiving materials for distance learning, for receiving meals, and any other related services from educational institutions; (3) returning to a place of Residence from outside the jurisdiction; (4) travel required by law enforcement or court order; (5) non-residents returning to their place of Residence."

Now, I'm not a lawyer, but there is enough vagueness in the inclusion of outdoor exercise as a "Necessary Activity" that I'm sure you could get a good lawyer to argue that traveling across the state to go bird-watching was within the letter of the law.  Please stop thinking about the letter of the law for a moment.  We all know that it is not necessary to go all the way across the state to "exercise" when a local trail would work just as well.  As birders, we strongly discourage people from intentionally disturbing, flushing, or otherwise harassing birds, even though there is no law explicitly prohibiting it in most places.  As a community, we are accustomed to placing the welfare of the birds above our personal desire to add another bird to our life/state/county/year list, or to get a better photo, or whatever.  Now, please, place the welfare of other people above those personal interests as well.  Personally, I had plans for this week to visit King Ranch for hopeful Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls and Tropical Parulas, and High Island for their famous warbler migration- all the while spending time with my brother, sisters, parents, and best of all my young nieces and nephew.  The disappointment has been quite intense this week from instead being stuck in my small apartment with just my local trails for early morning walks and spending the rest of the day working on moving my courses online, even though I am personally in the lowest-risk category for COVID-19.  However, every time you go out and especially when you travel outside your neighborhood, you literally risk killing someone else, if not yourself.  You also become part of the group that is making this whole pandemic last longer for everyone.  Is it really worth it?

Marie Hoerner, Colorado Springs, El Paso County

On Sun, Mar 29, 2020 at 12:20 PM SeEttaM . <seettam@gmail.com> wrote:

Aarg

SeEtta Moss 

Canon City 

On Sun, Mar 29, 2020, 12:18 PM SeEttaM . <seettam@gmail.com> wrote:

Directly from Govenor 

SeEtta Moss 

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