[obol] Eugene Birders & another theft at Royal

[Don Baccus]

On Jul 30, 2008, at 10:32 PM, Dennis Arendt wrote:

> Obolers,
> The Eugene Wednesday birders went to Fern Ridge Reservoir, parking  
> at the end of Royal Avenue.  To prevent thieves from being tempted,  
> both of our vehicles were left unlocked and any valuables were  
> removed.  However, this did not stop thieves from taking the  
> catalytic converter from underneath the Nissan pickup.

They contain a few grams of platinum, which with the fall of the  
dollar has, along with gold, climbed steeply in the last couple of  
years.

So there are a couple of good markets for used converters, one for the  
raw material, another as a source to unscrupulous auto
repair shops who will pay fairly good money for used ones since the  
cost of platinum has driven the price of new converters upwards.

Sounds like your group didn't let it ruin your day, though I bet the  
owner of the pickup wasn't pleased at the replacement cost.

Fern Ridge is starting to sound as user-friendly as Larch Mountain up  
here.  Or Crystal Springs (Rhodie Gardens).   Hmmm, I
chased away a car basher from Crystal Spring once, wielding my EF  
600/4 + camera body + heavy-duty Gitzo tripod like a 20lb club.  Just  
after he'd based the window of a car but before he got the purse and  
laptop lying openly on the back seat (why do people do that?).

Wish I had video of me running after that dude swinging my camera and  
yelling as he jumped into his getaway car...

In birding news ... I had excellent looks at a low-elevation, soaring,  
SHORT-TOED EAGLE while on my morning bird walk a couple of days ago.

No, no, don't jump in your cars driving to SE PDX - I'm in Spain :)

----------------
Don Baccus
http://donb.photo.net
http://birdnotes.net
http://openacs.org