Tweets:

Chris Hill wrote:

>>Or, perhaps more likely at that location, a Barn Owl? If you look at them
>>from the front, they're "white with a few dark speckles."
>>
>>Hate to play the doubting thomas to what seems to be a clear ID, but I
>>know a few cases where non-birders have reported snowies that turned out
>>to be something else

And Dennis replied:

>Although Jim's bird certainly sounds like a Snowy, I have to agree entirely
>with Chris. I've seen/heard of quite a few Barn Owls miscalled Snowies,
>both live and dead ones.

My first response to Jim's anecdote was the same. Unfortunately it's too
late to be sure *what* it was. But to add another tale of Barn Owl
misidentification...

Several years ago I was in conversation with a couple of Oregon Dept. Fish
& Wildlife biologists. If I remember correctly, one of them reported a
phone call he'd received, first from an irate state legislator who was
following up on a request from a constituent, and his subsequent talk with
the constituent. The person had found a Spotted Owl in their barn, and
wanted it out of there. They were reluctant to do anything about it
themselves for fear of the wrath of regulatory-types, and seemed angry that
they had this problem on their hands in the first place. The biologist
queried, "You say this owl is in your barn?" "Yes!" "What makes you think
it's a Spotted Owl?" "Because it has these little black spots all over it."
"Is the bird mostly white, with a sort of heart-shaped face?" "Yes" ....

-- Janet Hardin
Port Townsend, WA
wings at olympus.net