Day 1; Thursday, 12 February 1998 --
-- 10th Annual WOS Conference, Mt. Vernon, Skagit Co., Washington --

How's the saying go? You shoulda been here yesterday!! Well...!

The Skagit WOS Convention kicked off with an utterly fascinating evening post-
dinner presentation by Bud Anderson (founder of the Falcon Research Group) and
Arlen Fletcher with "A Review of Recent Great Gray Owl Information in
Northwest Washington". Fascinating indeed! This was probably the single
strongest drawing card for me at the very least to attend this convention
above all else that may come along later.

For all of the skeptics amongst you, including myself initially, who may have
gotten caught up in the controversy questioning the ethics over trapping and
radio-tagging the infamous and highly publicized Ovenell Road (Skagit Co.)
GREAT GRAY OWL in the winter of 1996, the upshot and results of that effort
have long gone over the top exonerated Bud Anderson and his dedicated
assistants in my most humble opinion!! These guys were more than just 'lucky'
-- it was their utter dedication by ground and by air using the best in
current scientific sophistication for a scientific cause that has resulted in
a remarkable contribution into glimpsing the actual migration, timing, and
route of a GREAT GRAY OWL from it's wintering grounds on the Skagit to the
remote and rugged hinterland wilderness areas in the vicinity of Kamloops in
south-central BC. Great Gray Owl migration here-to-fore has been something
ornithology has known little to nothing about... until now!

Nor was the 1996 bird a one-time lucky shot as a second (unpublicized) bird
also from Skagit County near Conway in 1997 was similarly tracked from the
moment of lift-off (one year + one day later than the 1996 bird), the
migration, but was ultimately lost up in the same general area of Kamloops.
One doesn't have to be a rocket scientist to see how challenging and difficult
tracking a Great Gray Owl in migration really is. Just look at relief map of
BC! The dedicated effort plus the positive results staggers my mind!

These radio tags btw are not the dreaded collars draped around the bird's neck
as many first envisioned. They are simple tiny devices (6 grams) attached to
a tail feather which are shed when the bird molts. Adding to the difficulty
of tracking such a tagged bird, the signal can not be located if some terrain
happens to block a direct line between the bird and the receiver, but if there
is no blockage, the signal can be received many miles away. The migration of
these two birds, both in early April of 1996 and 1997, consisted of short
nightly hops to the NNE. Soon it became possible by plotting the migration
trajectory to 'predict' where the bird might be on subsequent nights and then
be at the 'predicted' spot the next night, and then amazingly be right on the
spot and target as the migrating bird flies right over the radio receiver!!
This just utterly blows me away!!!

The presentation last night consisted of a sophisticated mix of current media
aids -- slides on one screen with simultaneous computer graphics projected on
another screen, then followed by a short 10-minute video. Brilliantly done
for a bird which I behold in such spirit-like awe, the GREAT GRAY OWL, the
'gray ghost of the northern forest'. In the trembling wake of this
presentation, anything and everything else that happens at this conference
will just be gravy :-))

The first night of the WOS Convention was far better attended then I would
have ever expected for a 'Thursday' night -- at least 125 participants
including my old buddy from back East and raptor enthusiast, Bill Clark with
his group of raptor class and tour participants concurrently touring the
PacNW.

Otherwise, the first day got off to an ominous start with much rain and wind.
Last I heard was that the post program 'owl prowl' went off anyway after the
rains had abated. However, *if* the owling really did happen, participants
had to be totally die-hard hopefuls going off into the teeth of god-awful
windy conditions gusting 40+mph. In the light of my current state of ignorance
this morning with this posting to 'tweeters', perhaps I'll hear of glowing
reports later this morning of some calm spot found in the tempest along with 9
species of owls -- in your dreams maybe '-)

Richard Rowlett (Pagodroma at aol.com)
(LIVE! -- from the 10th Annual WOS Conference, Mt. Vernon, WA)