Tweeters,

Haven't been there in a couple of years myself, but from what I've been
told, the Spring Creek area has recently been so extensively logged that the
GREAT GRAY OWLS are history in that location. Does anyone have current
information regarding same ?

Dennis Rockwell Kennewick, WA dennis.rockwell at gte.net

A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely
rearranging their prejudices.

William James (1842-1910)

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott G. Downes <DownesS at cwu.EDU>
To: contopus at shaw.ca <contopus at shaw.ca>; tweeters at u.washington.edu
<tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: Thursday, June 27, 2002 11:08 AM
Subject: Re: GREAT GRAY OWL BREEDING LOCATIONS


Wayne and Tweets,
Maybe somebody can help to clarify things? Is the Forest Service in Oregon
actually posting nest locations to the public or the area which these birds
are nesting in? If its the former, I would have some problems with this
especially if they are studying them. Not only can tweeters be accessed by
any person regardless of their motives for birds, but to make public
knowledge of nest locations to me would be very wrong.
Also please remember that while you may or may not agree with Charlie asking
to keep the exact location private, the alternative could be that no post of
the owls was made at all, depriving some people of a great experience. So,
rather than criticizing his decision I think we should respect it and be
grateful that some information was shared.

>>> "Wayne C. Weber" <contopus at shaw.ca> 06/27/02 07:52AM >>>
Tweeters,
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.
> 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.