[Tweeters] Spotted Owls and Barred Owls

[Mark Borden]

Certainly the idea of shooting Barred owls has never appealed to me as a birder/falconer. It has even less appeal to me as a “realist.”

Possibly, if the species had a limited range on the open tundra, a meaningful change in population balance might be achievable, but as anyone that has visited Spotted Owl habitat knows, shooting is not a useful or practical solution. 

The original and most revered expert on the Spotted Owl, Dr. Eric Forsman stated:

"You could shoot barred owls until you're blue in the face," he said. "But unless you're willing to do it forever, it's just not going to work."

Forsman supported the shooting of Barred Owls on a limited basis only to determine if there is a cause-effect relationship between the two species. 

Not only can we not “do it forever “ but I submit that we can not effectively do it at all.  Eliminating and continuing to exclude Barred Owls from even a small area will prove unbelievably difficult and expensive. 

Nature is full of surprises, and often beyond our control. No one likes to see a bird decline, but the Barred Owl is a beautiful and amazing species in its own right.

Mark Borden
Coupeville, WA. 



Sent from my iPhone


> On Oct 8, 2023, at 12:02 PM, tweeters-request at mailman11.u.washington.edu wrote:

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> Today's Topics:

> 

>   1. YIKES!!: THE GUARDIAN: At least 1,    000 birds died from

>      colliding with one Chicago building in one day (Dan Reiff)

>   2. Spotted Owls: THE GUARDIAN: ?No easy answer?: the endangered

>      owls that can only be saved by killing other owls (Dan Reiff)

>   3. Large Flock of Bonaparte's Gulls at Dumas Bay Sanctuary

>      (Tom Benedict)

>   4. Bird ID Help - Thank You (jimbetz at jimbetz.com)

>   5. Yet Another Snow Goose Report ... (jimbetz at jimbetz.com)

>   6. Re: Bird ID Help - Thank You (HAL MICHAEL)

>   7. Re: Bird ID Help - Thank You (jimbetz at jimbetz.com)

>   8. Two Questions (Tom and Carol Stoner)

> 

> 

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------

> 

> Message: 1

> Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2023 14:05:18 -0700

> From: Dan Reiff <dan.owl.reiff at gmail.com>

> To: Tweeters <tweeters at uw.edu>

> Subject: [Tweeters] YIKES!!: THE GUARDIAN: At least 1,    000 birds died

>    from colliding with one Chicago building in one day

> Message-ID: <00B05446-0E3B-43CD-ADE6-EB40154082C9 at gmail.com>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

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> ------------------------------

> 

> Message: 2

> Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2023 14:17:51 -0700

> From: Dan Reiff <dan.owl.reiff at gmail.com>

> To: Tweeters <tweeters at uw.edu>

> Subject: [Tweeters] Spotted Owls: THE GUARDIAN: ?No easy answer?: the

>    endangered owls that can only be saved by killing other owls

> Message-ID: <CB689550-2069-4FB2-AD21-3043335ABC82 at gmail.com>

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> ------------------------------

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> Message: 3

> Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2023 18:54:52 -0700

> From: Tom Benedict <benedict.t at comcast.net>

> To: "tweeters at u.washington.edu tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>

> Subject: [Tweeters] Large Flock of Bonaparte's Gulls at Dumas Bay

>    Sanctuary

> Message-ID: <B43FCF0D-FD7B-40C8-A646-EF44D6BFB528 at comcast.net>

> Content-Type: text/plain;    charset=utf-8

> 

> There were 200-300 winter plumage Bonaparte?s Gulls on the far north shore of Dumas Bay Sanctuary. I?ve never seen so many BOGU at one time. From time to time they would rise from the shore in waves, not unlike shorebirds, flashing their white underwings. It was quite a show.

> 

> Tom Benedict

> Seahurst, WA

> 

> ------------------------------

> 

> Message: 4

> Date: Sat, 07 Oct 2023 20:22:35 -0700

> From: jimbetz at jimbetz.com

> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu

> Subject: [Tweeters] Bird ID Help - Thank You

> Message-ID:

>    <20231007202235.Horde.7sAjnVnL8mbzaVwxoTxWplN at webmail.jimbetz.com>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed; DelSp=Yes

> 

> 

> Hi all,

> 

>   I have received at least a half dozen private emails about the Goldfinch id.

> Thanks to all for that help.  It is a "fall plumage Goldfinch".  I did not

> know that Goldfinches loose their yellow in the fall ... I hope I can lock

> into the concept of "they change color in the fall - just like the  

> leaves".  *G*

>                                                                         - Jim

> 

> 

> 

> 

> ------------------------------

> 

> Message: 5

> Date: Sat, 07 Oct 2023 23:03:41 -0700

> From: jimbetz at jimbetz.com

> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu

> Subject: [Tweeters] Yet Another Snow Goose Report ...

> Message-ID:

>    <20231007230341.Horde.3sBaV-ssHFMh9362ZQ2oB_y at webmail.jimbetz.com>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed; DelSp=Yes

> 

> Tweet!  Tweet!

> 

>   Actually it was more like Honk!  Honk!  Honk! ... ad infinitum.

> 

>   Rhetorical Question - do snows ever get truly quiet?  My answer - NOPE!

> 

>   We went to the Jensen Access (Maupin Rd.) and Hayton Reserve today.

> There were snows everywhere.  We also saw a large flock near the

> Swinomish Slough bridge.  We were there between about 2 and 4.

> 

>   We saw them flying, landing, taking off, feeding on grasses, squabling

> over feeding locations, droppings falling into the water at Hayton just in

> front of where we were standing on the dike.  We saw them get stirred up

> because a couple of GBHs flew over them - and saw them ignore a Bald

> Eagle flying over them also.  We saw them sharing a field with several

> hundred Cackling Geese (there are more Cacklings than I've ever seen at

> one time this year).  We did not see them on the Samish Flats or the

> Butler Flats or the Skagit Flats.  There were thousands and thousands

> on Fir Island ... all concentrated near the South end of Fir (Skagit Bay

> and the fields along it).  Snow Geese literally everywhere in that area.

>   When I was there just before Sunset on Tuesday you could see them

> "getting up and swirling around and settling back down" from Stanwood

> to La Conner.  And then doing it all over again.

>   The two eagles around the nest at Hayton seemed pretty bored with

> the whole show.  "Would you guys please tone it down a couple notches

> so we can take a nap?"

> 

>   We still haven't figured out how to have ice cream from Snow Goose

> Produce -and- Turkey with Brie and Cranberries at The Rex.  It's one

> or the other but not both.  One of Life's most confusing trade offs!

> 

>                                     - Jim

> 

> 

> 

> ------------------------------

> 

> Message: 6

> Date: Sun, 8 Oct 2023 08:53:56 -0700 (PDT)

> From: HAL MICHAEL <ucd880 at comcast.net>

> To: jimbetz at jimbetz.com, tweeters at u.washington.edu

> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Bird ID Help - Thank You

> Message-ID: <226817655.141650.1696780436942 at connect.xfinity.com>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

> 

> Books. A good field guide like Peterson or Sibley will illustrate both the breeding and winter plumages so prevalent in many species.

> 

> 

> Hal Michael

> Board of Directors,Ecologists Without Borders (http://ecowb.org/)

> Olympia WA

> 360-459-4005

> 360-791-7702 (C)

> ucd880 at comcast.net

> 

>> On 10/07/2023 8:22 PM PDT jimbetz at jimbetz.com wrote:

>> 

>> 

>> Hi all,

>> 

>>   I have received at least a half dozen private emails about the Goldfinch id.

>> Thanks to all for that help.  It is a "fall plumage Goldfinch".  I did not

>> know that Goldfinches loose their yellow in the fall ... I hope I can lock

>> into the concept of "they change color in the fall - just like the  

>> leaves".  *G*

>>                                                                         - Jim

>> 

>> 

>> _______________________________________________

>> Tweeters mailing list

>> Tweeters at u.washington.edu

>> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters

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> 

> ------------------------------

> 

> Message: 7

> Date: Sun, 08 Oct 2023 09:37:58 -0700

> From: jimbetz at jimbetz.com

> To: HAL MICHAEL <ucd880 at comcast.net>

> Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu

> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Bird ID Help - Thank You

> Message-ID:

>    <20231008093758.Horde.8xhQIFLrHhdphHDiVvjQq_e at webmail.jimbetz.com>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed; DelSp=Yes

> 

> Hal,

> 

>   Thanks for your help!

> 

>   I consider myself to be "a better than beginner" (on bird id) but

> also "struggling".

> 

>                           ***

> 

>   Yes, I have both Petersen's and the latest Sibley.  But checking

> both of those, and using Merlin online ... you do not find the

> coloring of that Goldfinch that I asked about.  There are some

> that are close ... however, none of the sources I checked mention a

> complete lack of any yellow.  I had already guessed it was an

> adult American Goldfinch based upon the patterns of the wings and

> back ... but wanted confirmation.  What I didn't know about was

> the Fall and Winter change and how drastically some inviduals

> will drop the yellow.

> 

>   And therein lies my challenge.  There are several bird species

> here (I bird mostly where I live - in Skagit County) that have

> significant variations in color and color patterns.

>   Actually the Goldfinch is one of the least problematic - aside

> from the ones that have no yellow anywhere (not even a 'blush').

>   A couple of standouts (for me) are the RTH, and gulls in general

> (a lot of gull species have significant variations).  And there

> are all those shorebirds that look alike!  (At first glance.)

> And I have the additional tendency to group all of the shorebirds

> into "that's a sandpiper" ... because when I grew up here in

> Anacortes (before being 'away from home' for 4+ decades) that's

> what we called them - all of them that were anywhere close to

> being a small to medium-sized shorebird that was primarily

> black and white or grey and white.

> 

>   My best chances at a successful bird id for a problem bird are

> when I can get a photo and then compare it against Merlin, the

> Sibley App, my books, and when I have enough to go on to start

> guessing ... doing a Google search for photos.  Luckily I have

> an excellent birding camera and it is almost always with me.

> 

>   A LOT of the time the bird is easy to id - but I get

> confused by some individual birds (I said "struggling").

> 

>                                          - thanks again, Jim

> 

> Quoting HAL MICHAEL <ucd880 at comcast.net>:

> 

>> Books. A good field guide like Peterson or Sibley will illustrate  

>> both the breeding and winter plumages so prevalent in many species.

>> 

>> 

>> Hal Michael

>> Board of Directors,Ecologists Without Borders (http://ecowb.org/)

>> Olympia WA

>> 360-459-4005

>> 360-791-7702 (C)

>> ucd880 at comcast.net

>> 

>>>> On 10/07/2023 8:22 PM PDT jimbetz at jimbetz.com wrote:

>>> 

>>> 

>>> Hi all,

>>> 

>>>   I have received at least a half dozen private emails about the  

>>> Goldfinch id.

>>> Thanks to all for that help.  It is a "fall plumage Goldfinch".  I did not

>>> know that Goldfinches loose their yellow in the fall ... I hope I can lock

>>> into the concept of "they change color in the fall - just like the

>>> leaves".  *G*

>>> 

>>>     - Jim

>>> 

>>> 

>>> _______________________________________________

>>> Tweeters mailing list

>>> Tweeters at u.washington.edu

>>> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters

> 

> 

> 

> 

> 

> ------------------------------

> 

> Message: 8

> Date: Sun, 8 Oct 2023 10:45:22 -0700

> From: Tom and Carol Stoner <tcstonefam at gmail.com>

> To: Tweeters at u.washington.edu

> Subject: [Tweeters] Two Questions

> Message-ID:

>    <CAOVv5LyiABPS__edh-tG=ZU1WGER4wuiz7gQ1pZP19hGk0ucaA at mail.gmail.com>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

> 

> I found a dozen feathers that had been "taken" from a bird.  The gray and

> white cluster with dime-sized black spots suggested gull to me.

> 

> 1.  Is there any other bird in the Seattle area that would have a similar

> color pattern?

> 2.  What would go after a gull?  Bald Eagle was my best guess.  Any other

> candidates?

> 

> Thanks for your good insights--

> Carol Stoner

> West Seattle

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