Hello everyone, I’d like to remind everyone the consequences of posting Owl locations to ONTbirds.
For one, it appears that this year may be a good year for northern Owl species to irrupt southward. Owls are sensitive species, and as birders I think we can all agree that we care about the wellbeing of these amazing animals. We all also would love to see these species as well, and as such I can understand why one would want to post to ONTbirds sharing the location, so that others can get to see these amazing creatures as well. However, there are some consequences of posting locations of Owls on a listerve like this. This listerve has a very large number of people, and as such the location will now be known to all these people, and will attract hoards to the location and the Owl, causing negative disturbance and disruption to the sensitive species. Additionally, being that this is a very large listerve, there are undoubtedly people on this listerve who bait Owls. This also has a negative impact on the Owls’ well-being. For instance, baiting causes Owls to be attracted to roadsides, which increases the chances of it being hit by a car. So, as much as we would all love to be able to see these amazing Owls, I would advise people consider the negative consequences before posting a location of an Owl on a listerve like this. Good birding, Isabel Apkarian _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists
