Tweeters,

I don't like the snide tone of Paul Webster's message about
withholding sighting locations, but I agree that he does have a point.
With specific reference to GREAT GRAY OWLS, the Forest Service has
actually posted a sign showing nest locations in the Spring Creek area
near La Grande, OR (see the attached message from Tim Rodenkirk on
OBOL). Spring Creek is in the Blue Mountains, not very many miles from
the Biscuit Ridge location in Walla Walla County. These nests are
mostly on artificial nest platforms installed by Forest Service
employees. Evelyn Bull and others have been studying Great Gray Owls
in this area for years. I presume that the Forest Service knows what
it is doing-- if the owls were that sensitive to disturbance, then
they wouldn't post the nest locations.

At the same time, I do have some reservations about posting nesting
locations of owls in general (and other locally-rare birds). There are
still a few idiots around who like to shoot owls, and there is no
guarantee that one or more of these individuals is not on TWEETERS--
anyone can subscribe to the group. I don't have a problem with posting
the location of owls or other rare birds outside the nesting season,
but some caution may be advisable in posting actual nest locations
(especially as some species like Great Gray Owls and Spotted Owls may
use the same nest site year after year). Large numbers of visitors
early in the nest cycle (when eggs are present) could cause
abandonment of the nest and nesting failure. Once the young have
fledged, the chance of birders causing problems is much less, but I am
still concerned about the possibility of some yahoo with a shotgun
finding out about the birds.

The whole subject of publicizing breeding locations of owls or other
locally-rare birds is a touchy one. I'm not sure that the caution
exercised by Charlie Wright is really necessary, but I don't
necessarily advocate the let's-tell-everyone approach advocated by
Paul Webster either. Perhaps each situation needs to be judged on its
own merits.

Wayne C. Weber
Kamloops, BC
contopus at shaw.ca


----- Original Message -----
From: Tim Rodenkirk <garbledmodwit at yahoo.com>
To: Obol <obol at lists.orst.edu>
Sent: Saturday, June 22, 2002 11:20 AM
Subject: Final E. OR Notes, June 2002


> Here are some miscellaneous bird sightings people may
> be interested in from my now completed two week tour
> of E. Oregon:
>
> GREAT GRAY OWL- try the Spring Creek area, north of
> LaGrande (exit 248 off the interstate). There is a
> high concentration of the species in this area.
> After you drive in the gravel road the Forest Service
> has a sign with a map of the area (which they are
> rehabilitating) which actually shows GGOW nest
> locations (among other things). We camped off one of
> the roads shown on this map several miles in (a car
> can negotiate most, but not all, of these roads). We
> heard GGOW's from our campsite and down the road each
> morning, evening, and during the night. We saw them
> hunting ground squirrels in the late afternoon.

< snip >

> Tim Rodenkirk
> Coos Bay
> garbledmodwit at yahoo.com