98-02-03, Janet Hardin writes:

<< The [Oregon] 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" .... >>

98-02-03, Don Baccus writes:

<< ...My favorite was an editorial in the Bend daily, though, that haughtily
proclaimed that nso [northern spotted owl] not only don't need old-growth, but
actually don't need forests at all to nest in. "As recent months have shown,
spotted owls nest EVERYWHERE, even in junk yards...." >>

This reminds me once again of conservative talk radio show, "Michael Reagan"
(son of Ronald Reagan) I stumbled across one night while driving back from
birding in Eastern Washington in 1994 which coincided with Clinton's Forestry
'Summit' in Portland. The mention of Spotted Owls tweaked my interest,
especially since it was such an out and out outrageous line of drivel being
broadcast to the world in support of logging old growth and maintaining a
'more wholesome and productive monoculture forest'. According to Michael
Reagan, Spotted Owls do not need old growth forest citing for example the
"Spotted Owl found living in a barn at Grand Coulee, Washington" and that it
had been "verified by Washington state 'wildlife experts.'" Grand
Coulee??!!!? How ironic; I had just driven through Grand Coulee only minutes
before I heard this! Let's see, what-a-we-got here? Great Basin range and
'coulee' country; lots of big open sky, lots of rocks and canyons and sage,
orchards and wheatfields here and there, and with the only scraggly conifer in
sight maybe way way off in the distance vaguely in binocular range. And this
line of talk went on for three hours! Astonishing!

Then, sometime in February 1996 (2/28/96 to be exact -- I've dredged all this
information up out of my personal filing cabinet -- I just couldn't delete
these mind-boggling classic tales), Rush Limbaugh was on one of his anti-
environmental tirades and claimed his experts told him that spotted owls nest
in K-mart signs in Oregon and Washington.

So now that you know the secret of where to go to find the Spotted Owl, there
should be no excuse for not easily ticking this one off; e.g. 148th & Main,
Bellevue -- I looked but didn't see one there '-) I seldom listen to Reagan,
Limbaugh, or the rest of those of the 'conservative talk' bent, but do only
when I accidentally stumble across them going off in the dangerous waters on a
subject I sorta know a little something about, thus in my mind scuttles any
credibility on any and every other subject they 'talk' about. Dredging this
up now and again just goes to prove that what you (Reagan & Limbaugh & KVI &
'The Bend Daily') say and write can and will come back to haunt you. I'd
guess 'The Bend Daily' probably got it's information from Reagan and Limbaugh,
no? So, who *were* those Washington state 'wildlife experts' anyway, btw??
Names please ;-)

Richard Rowlett (Pagodroma at aol.com)
47.56N, 122.13W
(Seattle/Bellevue, WA USA)