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This is a forward from the IA-BIRD list. Al Batt Subject: Northern hawk owl incident From: "LL & RD Scarth" <[email protected]> Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 07:23:10 -0600 X-Message-Number: 1 Yesterday Bob and I spent an interesting hour+ observing and photographing the NHO in the trees behind the fire station in Manly. It preened, stretched, yawned, took tiny catnaps (owlnaps) and did not even seem bothered by the extremely noisy motorcycle spinning off nor the town's noon siren. It rarely looked at us but was scanning the surrounding area at its eye level. There were people there when we arrived and people came and went over the time we were there. One can see why the Stokes Field Guide to Birds (Western Region) has this note first under Other Behavior: "Unafraid of humans." Something strange happened while we were alone except for a chatty little boy from the neighborhood. A vehicle stopped along the street and a middle aged man yelled out his window "Are you going to photograph it when it is dead, too?" I turned around in surprise while Bob and the little boy continued to look at the owl. He repeated himself and then said something close to "All you people standing around watching it are keeping it from eating and it will die." I turned back to my camera and I think he said something else before driving off. I suspect this is an unintended consequence of the lovely news articles that have talked about the starving owls coming down from the north being read by people who do not realize that the owl could leave whenever it wanted to. And this area was probably a pretty good hunting area or it would have moved on by now. Also that it was using the high position in the tree to rest and maybe to scan the area for some daytime hunting. The little boy told us he saw it before people started coming to look at it but was not sure how long before. He and his friends play in that area and the owl does not seem to object. Linda Scarth [email protected] -------------------------------1109608690 Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; charset=3DUS-ASCII"> <META content=3D"MSHTML 6.00.2900.2604" name=3DGENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=3Drole_body style=3D"FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY:=20= Verdana"=20 bottomMargin=3D7 leftMargin=3D7 topMargin=3D7 rightMargin=3D7><FONT id=3Drol= e_document=20 face=3DArial color=3D#000000 size=3D2><FONT id=3Drole_document face=3DVerdan= a=20 color=3D#000000 size=3D3> <DIV><STRONG>This is a forward from the IA-BIRD list.</STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG>Al Batt</STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV>Subject: Northern hawk owl incident<BR>From: "LL & RD Scarth"= =20 <[email protected]><BR>Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 07:23:10=20 -0600<BR>X-Message-Number: 1<BR><BR><BR>Yesterday Bob and I spent an interes= ting=20 hour+ observing and<BR>photographing the NHO in the trees behind the fire=20 station in Manly. It<BR>preened, stretched, yawned, took tiny catnaps (owlna= ps)=20 and did not even<BR>seem bothered by the extremely noisy motorcycle spinning= off=20 nor the<BR>town's noon siren. It rarely looked at us but was scanning=20 the<BR>surrounding area at its eye level. There were people there when=20 we<BR>arrived and people came and went over the time we were there. One=20 can<BR>see why the Stokes Field Guide to Birds (Western Region) has this=20 note<BR>first under Other Behavior: "Unafraid of humans."<BR><BR>Something=20 strange happened while we were alone except for a chatty<BR>little boy from=20= the=20 neighborhood. A vehicle stopped along the street<BR>and a middle aged=20= man=20 yelled out his window "Are you going to photograph<BR>it when it is dead, to= o?"=20 I turned around in surprise while Bob and the<BR>little boy continued to loo= k at=20 the owl. He repeated himself and then<BR>said something close to "All=20= you=20 people standing around watching it are<BR>keeping it from eating and it will= =20 die." I turned back to my camera and<BR>I think he said something else befor= e=20 driving off.<BR><BR>I suspect this is an unintended consequence of the lovel= y=20 news articles<BR>that have talked about the starving owls coming down from t= he=20 north<BR>being read by people who do not realize that the owl could=20 leave<BR>whenever it wanted to. And this area was probably a pretty good=20 hunting<BR>area or it would have moved on by now. Also that it was usi= ng=20 the high<BR>position in the tree to rest and maybe to scan the area for some= =20 daytime<BR>hunting. <BR><BR>The little boy told us he saw it before people=20 started coming to look at<BR>it but was not sure how long before. He and his= =20 friends play in that<BR>area and the owl does not seem to object.<BR><BR>Lin= da=20 Scarth<BR>[email protected]<BR><BR></DIV></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML> -------------------------------1109608690--
