Subject: Re. RFI: Age and cause of death of BAOW
Date: Oct 4 05:42:07 1999
From: Jack Bowling - jbowling at direct.ca


Gail S. had asked for some pointers for aging and determining pathology
of a dead Barred Owl in s.e. BC

In a starved owl, the keel of the breastbone is usually felt easily with
the fingers due to a lack of fatty deposits. Otherwise, an autopsy
complete with chemical analyses would be the best way of determining
death. Not sure if Dr. Ken Langelier of Nanaimo is still accepting bird
theses for post-mortems. You may wish to give him a call to find out.

As for aging, the fact that there were some juvie feathers does
suggest that its was a HY bird. Pyle cautions that owls seem to be in
a continuous state of molt and aging is not as clearcut as in other
bird families.

--
Jack Bowling
Prince George, BC
jbowling at direct.ca