Wonderful post, Bill. I have admired your bird photos for some time.
Lately I am a casual birder.....concentrating on mammal watching and
photography is my main intent these days, but my life list is fairly
nice.......I posted the question on the future of this bird. I'm a
researcher (a casual one), but years as a naturalist working in Rocky
Mtn. National Park has made me a realist. I plan to be owl-watching
today, (with a day off today from teaching) and I truly would like to
see the bird a bit active, anyway. Thank you for this wisdom and
encouragement but also the words of reality.
Donna Dannen
Evergreen Colorado
On Jan 17, 2010, at 11:11 PM, William Schmoker wrote:
Folks- I wrote this yesterday morning but looking at the archives I
don't think it went through despite being in my "sent" box to
Cobirds. My own posts don't get mailed back to me so I didn't
realize it never made the list until this evening when I got an
email from another birder expressing concern about going to see the
owl. I was originally responding to Becca Reid's posted concerns
about seeing the Snowy Owl. Since then Skot has addressed his
actions regarding the van "incident" (if it even warrants that
label), something I addressed at the end. I would guess that Becca
and my other correspondent aren't alone in their concerns and I'm
saddened that anyone is having second thoughts about seeing the bird
or getting turned off to birding in general because of the culpatory
tone some recent Cobirds posts have had. If anyone is getting the
following again please accept my apologies and hit delete now.
Hi Becca- Good to have you in the birding community! I appreciate
your request for positive opportunities to learn more. I like to
assume the positive in folks, and my experience with other birders
has been positive in nearly all cases. Sharing information in
arenas such as Cobirds can vastly speed the learning curve (yet to
the delight of even long-time birders, a learning curve that never
ends!)
I would encourage you to go try for the Snowy Owl if you have a
chance. It is a majestic bird, rarely (if ever before?) this
accessible for viewing in Colorado, and extra special as a nearly
adult male and thus extra white! If nothing else, it is a lot
closer than a trip to the Dakotas, probably the nearest region where
they are more reasonably expected. Certainly use common sense and
courtesy, but in my opinion you won't be harming the bird to go look
at it. In fact, awareness, excitement, and interest in birds can be
one of the most powerful ways to protect habitat and the bird
populations that depend on it. Most people I know who have been
birding for a while contribute back in some way including financial
and membership support of birding organizations (e.g. ABA, CFO, DFO,
etc.) conservation organizations (e.g. Audubon, The Nature
Conservancy, etc.) and participation in citizen science efforts
(e.g. eBird, CBCs, Great Backyard Bird Count, etc.) For example, I
pulled this quote from a recent post on the Western Slope Birding
Network about some good news (finally!) regarding Greater Sage-
Grouse with a lot of help from Audubon Wyoming:
In a landmark victory, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM),
which manages nearly one third of Wyoming's land and is responsible
for mineral rights on nearly two-thirds, announced this month that
it is making major changes in its leasing policies. This change,
largely based on work done by Audubon Wyoming and the Wyoming
Governor, offers fresh hope for the survival of Greater Sage-Grouse,
enhanced protection for other wildlife that share the western
sagebrush ecosystem, and an innovative model to advance wildlife-
friendly energy development nationwide.
As for this Snowy Owl, the bad news is that it probably flew this
far south out of desperation- most northern owls that irrupt this
far south of their normal ranges are starving due to population
crashes of their prey base. Many don't survive and if found are
often emaciated. The good news is that this bird appears to be
finding food in its adopted neighborhood. It has definitely been
around since late December, and according to one local farmer "since
November." It could have and almost certainly would have moved on
if it was finding slim pickings there. I suspect this is why nearly
all of the few Snowys that turn up in Colorado can't be found the
next day- they move on in search of better hunting until they find
it or starve.
I'd suggest that there have been three main themes to consider in
most of the recent "ethics" posts about this owl, though they've
been confusingly swirled together.
First (& foremost), keep the bird's welfare in mind. I think that
viewing it from the neighborhood roadsides (if it is in the fields a
case where spotting scopes really help) doesn't significantly bother
the bird. I watched the owl from 10 am to almost 5:15 pm last
Monday. Folks who had been there since about dawn said it had been
out in a field resting all morning. During the first 6 1/2 hours I
held vigil (OK, I took an hour off to go get lunch,) its activity
consisted of <yawn> sleeping in a field or slowly gazing this way
and that with one eye open and the other shut, flying once to a
fence post around 11:30 and then <yawn> sleeping or slowly gazing
this way and that until about 4:30. During this time I'd estimate
75 or more people watched it without any undue stress or energy
wasting on the part of the bird. When it started hunting from the
house tops at 4:30 its pattern seemed uninfluenced by the evening
shift of birders along the road watching it. If it wanted to, a two-
minute flight would have taken it well away from any of us (pretty
insignificant compared to the thousand+ miles it likely flew to get
here.)
Secondly, keep other birders in mind. Flushing the bird into a
distant field a minute or two away by owl wings may not matter much
in the big picture to the owl but can majorly dent someone's day who
has come a long way to see the bird. (Yeah, flushing the bird
repeatedly all day long would be pretty bad but I really don't see
that happening out there unless you chased it on an ATV and brought
wire cutters along for every time you encountered a fence.)
Finally, it is a good idea to have positive relationships with non-
birder residents if you are birding near private properties from
public access such as roads or greenways. I always smile, wave, and
chat with locals whenever possible, and virtually all of the time
they are very interested in the bird. I offer scope looks when
possible and if I have pictures I'll show them on my camera screen
and offer to send them by email. I've been invited into yards,
lots, onto boats, and even into houses for better viewing and photo
opps. On the occasion (very rare) when I encounter a negative
property owner I thank them and move on. Parking in or blocking
driveways, walking on lawns without permission, etc. certainly
aren't ways to engender love and cooperation from property owners
but I'd cut the infamous van a little slack. They weren't broadside
across two lanes of I25 at rush hour. I'd guess that the road has
about 2 non-owling cars an hour, and if a resident is road-raging
because they had to drive around the van, causing them a 5-second
delay in getting out to the highway then I think they have bigger
emotional problems than those brought on by some birders watching a
celebrity owl. At most I think the van driver was guilty of the
thrill and excitement of seeing this majestic bird close by after a
long drive plagued with the ever-present possibility of dipping or
just getting distant heat-hazed views. Yeah, would probably have
been better to pull over more but it's not really that big a deal in
the big scheme of things, is it?
If you've made it this far, thanks for wading through it all! And
thanks to everyone for the updates on the neat birds that have been
around this winter.
Enjoy- Bil Schmoker, Longmont
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• Bill Schmoker •
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http://schmoker.org
http://brdpics.blogspot.com
[email protected]
720/201-5749
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