Hey, no one enjoys a good rat killing story better than I do, but if you keep this thread up folks, you are looking to have your house fire bombed by PETA while you're sleeping, and I don't want that to happen, so let's move on to something else, what do you say ? ;-)

I recently came into possession of a handful of early back issues of "The Condor" and have been having a lot of fun reading them. In Vol. XVIII, No. 6 (Nov. - Dec. 1916) I encountered the following report in the "FROM FIELD AND STUDY" section:

The Dwarf Screech Owl in the State of Washington.--Unless it be for an occasional "sight record", I believe the Dwarf Screech Owl (Otus flammeolus idahoensis) has been seldom recorded in Washington. It gives me great pleasure, therefore, to report the capture of an adult female at Kiona, Benton County, Washington, by Mr. F. R. Decker of that place. An examination showed it to be beyond much doubt a breeding bird. The only possible nest sites in the vicinity were numerous holes made by Bank Swallows, etc., in a large sandy cliff, so it is possible that this bird may use something besides holes in trees as a place for raising its young. The specimen was taken on May 29, 1916, and is now in the collection of Mr. D. E. Brown, at Seattle, Washington.--J. H. Bowles, Tacoma, Washington.

OK, right off the bat, I find no mention of the subspecies idahoensis in current literature describing the Flammulated Owl, so am I safe in assuming that this subspecies is no longer accepted ?

Next, is there any chance that Mr. D. E. Brown's collection of bird skins still exists ? Perhaps was willed or given to a local university or natural history museum ? It would be great to have that particular skin examined by someone who tell us if that bird really was a Flammulated Owl (which I seriously doubt) or actually a misidentified Western screech-Owl (which I strongly suspect).

The notion, as suggested in that published record, that a Flammulated Owl was nesting in a sand cliff in the then essentially treeless lower Columbia Basin, is quite a stretch, however there is one local sight record of Flammulated Owl in the month of March (no other details known to me).

Hmmmm.

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

The reason we do not deserve, as a matter of right, the benefits that flow from the exercise of our talents is
that we cannot take credit for those talents in the first place. That a market society values the skills some
people happen to have is their good fortune, not a measure of their moral merit. We should not regard the
bounty and prestige the market bestows on them as a reward for superior virtue.
John Rawls - political philosopher (1921-2002)