I agree with Mike that a hawk owl that is so actively following people has most likely become accustomed to people feeding it. Pet store mice very often carry salmonella, which is a real danger for owls as well as people, so feeding them to birds is a dangerous practice for many reasons, not even considering the ethics and cruelty issues involved for the mouse, raised as a pet indoors to be tossed onto snow on frigid days. And by habituating to people, the owl is more likely to spend a higher proportion of its time near roadsides where people are, rather than in the stands of trees where rodents are.
During the 2005 invasion, I received phone calls from several people distraught after seeing owls, including hawk owls, that had been hit by cars. The birds perch on wires even when we're not there, but because automobile collisions are such a major cause of mortality for owls, it seems only right that we not actively try to get them to spend even more time in the danger zone. But it also should be recognized that Northern Hawk Owls are to some degree always somewhat "tame." I suspect that they have adapted to the presence of large mammals in much the way Gray Jays have, always hoping to exploit a sudden opportunity. I remember a day back in the 1980s, when nowhere near as many people came to Sax-Zim to look at owls. A group of us was gathered on a roadside, and a distant hawk owl immediately flew directly toward us and landed on the power line. I had an uncomfortable wad of dirty snow caked on the bottom of my boot, and I couldn't get it off by kicking my boot on the road, so I idly reached down, pulled it off, and tossed it into the ditch. And instantly the hawk owl flew down and almost seized it before it apparently figured out what it was. The only time I got to hold a hawk owl was when Dave Evans trapped one in the bog. He hadn't known that owl was even there until his banding companion took a short walk into the snow to relieve himself, and the owl flew in to check that out. Being curious and able to exploit other animals is one strategy for survival that we share with hawk owls and chickadees. We as birders should consider their curiosity about us a gift. Without disturbing them at all we can easily get plenty of photos of them at close range. Sure, flight shots are exciting. But owls don't sit on a powerline forever. It may take time and patience to get flight shots, but that seems to me a small price to pay to show our respect for a bird's genuine wildness, to protect it from potentially tainted food, and to interfere with its activities as little as possible. I can't even begin to say how disturbing it is for anyone ever to tease an owl by pulling inedible items over the snow to lure it for flight shots. On days like today many birds are on the very edge of survival, and wasting valuable calories on a futile hunt can literally kill them--but tragically after the photographer has gone on his way not even thinking about the bird's wasted energy. I think anyone who witnesses such illegal harassment should definitely report the photographer to the DNR and the USF&W. There are a lot of gray areas in birding ethics, but luring with fake rodents is genuine cruelty. That's black and white in my book. -- Laura Erickson For the love, understanding, and protection of birds There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of birds. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter. --Rachel Carson Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
