Dang! Snowy Owls have been scarce this winter in
Washington. But this morning at least one of those
Snowies was dead on the sidewalk in downtown Tacoma,
according to my building's security man, who just told
me this afternoon.

The owl, which the security man described as a "beautiful
big white owl," was picked up from the sidewalk to the north
of my office building, the Wells Fargo building, on the
1200 block of Pacific Avenenue. When it was picked up
at about 7:30 a.m. this morning, the security man said
that he couldn't see any trauma marks on it.

When I showed him the owl pictures in my National Geographic
Society field guide, he emphatically pointed to the Snowy Owl
illustrations--and to the adult at that. "It was white,
with a few dark speckles on it," the security man said.

Several other people also saw the bird.

I tried to retrieve the carcass, but it had already gone
through a compactor and had disappeared.

Dang!

--Jim Lyles, Tacoma
<jrlyles at usgs.gov> or <jrlyles at eskimo.com>