At 11:45 AM 2/27/96 -0800, Tom wrote:
>Tweeterfolk,
>
.....I would like to address a parallel thread--are we as tweeters placing so
>"public" an owl in danger by interferring with its ability to hunt? I
>ask this as I have heard, I hope incorrectly, that the Great Gray owl
>seen by great numbers of people up in Vancouver DIED, apparently having
>starved to death.....

Tom,

I wouldn't think the people out observing the owl would have caused the bird
to starve to death. Chances are it simply moved on to a better feeding
area. Especially if large groups of people were frightening the prey away
(or keeping it in hiding), it would simply move on. Most adult birds of
prey who do become emaciated and die do so because of some injury that keeps
them from catching their food. That can be poisoning, encounters with cars
or power lines, careless hunters, and that kind of human intervention.
Juveniles (there's that indeterminate word again) who have not learned to
hunt properly by the time winter sets in do starve to death from time to
time. Sad as it is, that is natural.

Hope that helps alleviate the worry.

Peggi



Peggi Rodgers
peggir at ori.org
Eugene, OR
"A bird does not sing because it has an
answer, It sings because it has a song"