Thank you, don’t pay too much attention to my crying, it’s adhd-related thing, I can’t control emotions pretty much at all so crying from mild trigger is ok for me and I’m not really sad inside in such moments in most times.
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Made me smile. My partner cries at anything intense, including happy things. Took some getting used to.
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I had a similar encounter this summer. I was snorkeling in a flat bay, “hunting” for gobies, when a woman who was lying on the beach threw a stone at me. Missed my head only a few centimeters! Had she hit me I might have been unconscious, floating face down in the water …
Obviously she was afraid of me or my supposed intentions. Most people do not seem to realize that a rare 3cm fish can be much more intriguing than yet another totally boring half-naked half-plastic average human ape lying well oiled on the beach to gather skin coloration …
Yes, of course I do understand her fears. She a tiny woman, me a strong guy, I get it. But right now I am talking about my fears. Do I dare snorkel into this bay anymore? It is not a private place. But what if she doesn’t miss next time? Unfortunately this is a bay where there are a lot of uncommon species to be found, so I want to go back there next year. Do I dare to?
Should I write “Biologist- Please do not throw rocks!” in big shiny letters on the back of my diving suit? ;)
In any case we naturalists have to be very careful with all the other people out there, because we display “abnormal behaviour” … crawling on all fours where a decent person would stand, happily taking pictures of something that looks like snot to them, being fond of animals with more than four legs …
Anyway, we cannot let “them” sabotage our love and our fascination for nature. So I will be back to that bay. But this time with the caution of past experiences …
Yes, I am losing faith in humanity, every day. I have to teach rainforest ecology, which is a sad story nowadays. But every now and then I gain faith in humanity for people like you, for the way people like you spend your time. So please keep it up! And thank you! Hopefully you will share many more observations, too. The bullies will be nothing but a weird little footnote in your great life.
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Throwing rocks goes way beyond unfriendly. That is dangerous!
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It’s also probably attempted assault or assault – especially if the rock hits you – but I’m not a lawyer. Personally I’d call the police
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Worst I’ve had was a stranger making fun of me behind my back lol. But it wasn’t bad, it was just funny. I was in Asbury, NJ for a concert, so I decided to walk on the boardwalk a bit before it opened. A laughing gull landed next to me so I got out my phone to take some pictures. A second later my friend says to me that some lady said “He’s taking a picture of the pigeon.” I laughed so hard, how could she not know what a seagull is? If you’re gonna make fun of someone at least be right about it.
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I am also an angry 5’3 woman
@stefadrian
I empathise with you, and am sorry that you have to cope with such ill mannered people. I empathize because as a single male, often walking with a camera and binocs, in a city watching for anything have to be extremely careful to not seem like a creep. While all I am after is creepies and crawlies.
Have found that speaking to people around and just randomly showing them what i am seeing seems to re-assure them what I am not some weirdo, and some times also end up have interesting conversations.
Regarding losing faith in Humanity – I guess welcome to the club :-( and with the daily horrors being visited upon rain forests (and other forests and wild eco-systems in general) it does seem like battles are being rapidly lost everywhere. Between the fascist fear mongering and the pandemic driven urge to rejuvenate the economy any gains we thought were there have all gone.
The only slender hope is to keep plugging away and keep in our heart and soul the sights, smells and sounds of nature to recharge our emotional and physical batteries.
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Yes, I experienced that as well. The russian mob went from “kill him” to “ooooh cute!!!” in an instant as soon as I showed them the seahorse I was taking pictures of underwater. Had to lift it out of the water for a few seconds, sorry, little fellow, but they really seemed agitated … so it really makes sense to talk.
As for hope: I really do hope somebody will throw a ring into a volcano soon …
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Recently I was birding on a hunting preserve on the first day of muzzle loading season! Not the smartest thing I have ever done. There were bow hunters in trees I walked under and muzzle loaders crawling around on the ground. Instead of being mad at me the many hunters I encountered were very friendly and curious what I was doing there without a gun. We ended up having some fascinating conversations about birds and hunting and whatever came up. One hunter though seemed to think I was undercover looking for hunting violations. I even hung out while a deer was being dressed and learned all about that. Curiosity and a smile seemed to be my saving grace in what could easily have been a very tense situation.
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