Subject: Re: More on Blue Mts. - Grouse Flat - Great Grays
Date: Jun 24 13:49:19 1996
From: Eugene Hunn - hunn at u.washington.edu


Michael,

There was a report, never publically substantiated, of Great Grays nesting
somewhere southwest of Asotin about 10 years ago. That's all I can
remember.

Gene.

On Sun, 23 Jun 1996, M. Smith wrote:

>
> I meant to add this to my Blue Mts. trip report, but somehow neglected it.
> Anyway, I keep thinking about it, and thought I'd post it to the group.
>
> When we were atlassing in the Grouse Flat area of southern Garfield and
> southwestern Asotin counties, we came across a series of open
> pastures/meadows within a forest landscape of mixed Ponderosa Pine/Grand
> Fir forests. Now tweets, think for a bit about what bird specifically
> prefers a patchwork of open meadows and closed forests. Well that would
> be Great Gray Owl. I've looked through Jewett et al. and Weber and
> Larrison, and they only have one record of Great Gray from the Blue Mts.
> area. However, Gilligan et al. show Great Grays right up to the
> Washington border in this region. I understand that those maps are a bit
> coarse. Everything I've read about Great Grays suggests that this area
> would be great habitat. Meadows are lush, and probably brimming with
> little fuzzy guys (as evidenced by healthy kestrel fledgelings here).
> Does anybody know if there are recent records (since 1977) of Great Grays
> from this area, or if anybody's ever looked here? And for you Oregonians,
> what is the status of this species in northern Wallowa County? And are
> there any tweets who live near this spot that would be interested in going
> to look for them? Seems to me they 'should' be there, assuming that the
> owls have read what I read :) about Great Gray Owls.
>
> -------------
> Michael R. Smith
> Univ. of Washington, Seattle
> whimbrel at u.washington.edu
> http://salmo.cqs.washington.edu/~wagap/mike.html
>
>