Feathering his nest proves illegal

Kerhonkson ? John Iorio is an out-of work, ex-Schrade guy who lives with his girlfriend, Sue, in a little house on Route 44/55.
He never thought the federal government would spoil his Christmas because he wanted to raise a little money for presents by selling a hummingbird nest on eBay. He was wrong.
It started as a lark. He spotted a guy selling nothing, literally, on eBay. Before the joke ended, the bidding soared to $18,000, Iorio said. An idea took flight.
Why not him? Christmas was coming. Money was tight.
From a cardboard box, he pulled a hollow pouch of gossamer thread and fibers dangling from a twig. This was his nest egg in disguise.
Three years ago, a Central Hudson utility crew had sliced out pieces of the four pine trees in his front yard. The nest tumbled to the ground. Two tiny eggs within shattered.
Iorio said he figured it had to be the nest of the hummingbirds that frequent his front yard. Brilliant flashes of red mark their flittings from summer flower to feeder and into the sheltering branches of the pines.
When he complained to environmental officials back then about the damage the utility crews had done to the nest, nothing happened, he said.
He took the nest inside and kept it until he got the idea to place it for sale on eBay.
"I don't really want to part with it, but times are tough right now. [I'm unemployed at the moment]," he wrote in the description to the listing. "I just hope someone else can get all the enjoyment like we do from looking at it."
The bidding was slow at first. But by Friday it climbed to more than $200. The closing high bid on Saturday was $330, more than enough to buy his girlfriend a present he had in mind.
But Iorio, 47, and Sue got different e-mails, too. One writer said the sale was illegal and threatened to turn Iorio in. He did.
"The sale or offer for sale of this nest is a violation of federal law," Robert Garabedian, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Albany, wrote to Iorio.
It's illegal to even take a feather of a covered migratory bird if it is lying on the ground in the woods. The same is true of dead owls, hawks or eagles.
"You can't do that," Garabedian said yesterday. "You have to have a permit."
The maximum penalty is up to six months in prison and a $5,000 fine, he said.
Iorio spoke with Garabedian by telephone yesterday. "I told him I ain't going to argue with you. If it's against the law, it's against the law."
Iorio said he plans to donate the nest to a Pennsylvania state park near where the winning bidder lives. The law allows that.
Ironically, two experts told Iorio the nest may not be that of a hummingbird after all. With his luck, though, it would turn out to be some other restricted bird, he said.
In the meantime, he has no money for Sue's present. "I don't know how, but I will pay for it," he said. "It will come from somewhere."

< Protecting endangered species: good, everything they did to this guy and said about the situation: bad. I just really can't say enough about how fucking stupid this is. >