Subject: Spotted Owl hit the Newspaper
Date: Nov 18 06:45:18 1998
From: ravenn at premier1.net - ravenn at premier1.net


Don Baccus wrote:
>
> At 06:59 PM 11/17/98 -0800, ravenn at premier1.net wrote:
As I said in an earlier post, this is pretty much to be expected.
However
> the bird managed to get confused enough to end up where it did, it's
> probable it was just roosting for the day and moved as soon as it got
> dark.

So Don, I was wrong and the bird was still there last night. Others saw
it at around 10:00. Wish I hadn't felt the pressure of time bearing
down on me and had looked a little harder. We'll see what today brings.

The bird made the paper today big time. Front page, wonderful photo and
with a picture of Snohomish County biologist Darla Boyer and
binoculars. I sure wish I had that Photographer's camera because it was
a great shot of the Owl which my lens could never have captured.

> Tweets might find it interesting to follow a summary of the dialogue in
> the letters to the editors portion of the paper that will likely follow
> any publication of a photograph. It's almost certain that a few folks
> will trot out the tired line that "this proves biologists wrong about
> spotted owl habitat needs" ... if they see the photograph.
>
> So, how would you like to file a couple of follow-on reports for us,
> first for where the photo plays (i.e. front page of your local
> news section?). I think most would find that interesting.

First paragraph: "The nearest old-growth forest is 50 miles away, but
that didn't prevent a spotted owl from taking up residence at a downtown
traffic island Tuesday."

After that they quoted local Audubon members about how rare it is to see
a spotted owl in this vicinity and that it is either a confused young
one or possibly sick. The crows apparently had been mobbing it and that
most of the regular sparrows were no where to be seen. They ended with
Audubon members hoping it would be gone today which would mean that it
was simply passing through.

> And a thumbnail sketch of any letters to the editor would be nice, too.
> If none show up, I'd be encouraged, actually...
> >

So we'll see if there are any responses to the article.

Yvonne Bombardier
Everett, Wa