Tweeters and Inland Birders,

Even though Boreal Owls appear to be largely non-migratory in the
Pacific Northwest, except perhaps for some altitudinal movement
(possibly descending to somewhat lower altitudes in winter), there
appear to be a few individuals that do migrate, or at least that make
long-range movements across open country.

On January 10, 1974, a Boreal Owl appeared in a white fir located in a
residential yard in Pullman. The bird was collected by Dr. Richard
Johnson, and I believe it is still in the bird collection at WSU.
(This was in an earlier era when there was no state bird records
committee, and when specimens, rather than photos, were the normal
means of documenting a first state record.) The occurrence was written
up in a short note published n the AUK, Volume 93, pages 195-196
(1976). The only previous report of Boreal Owl for Washington, a 1905
specimen from Whatcom County (near Glacier), disappeared long ago and
cannot now be verified. The Pullman specimen is therefore considered
to be the first valid record for the state.

So there are now lowland records of Boreal Owls at least from Pullman,
Nampa, ID, and near Davenport, and there appears to be a pattern of at
least occasional wandering to low-altitude sites in the Inland
Northwest.

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net




----- Original Message -----
From: mike denny <m.denny at charter.net>
To: <MarkJHoust at aol.com>; <inland-nw-birders at uidaho.edu>;
<tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 2:09 PM
Subject: Re: [inland-NW-birders]Columbia Plateau Boreal Owl


Hello All,
Some years ago in Southwest Idaho just outside Nampa a gentleman
located a wounded Boreal Owl in his yard. This unfortunate owl had
been bush-whacked by this guys house cat while on it's roost in his
front yard. The Boreal was rushed off to get treatment for its wounds.
These little forest owls can pop up just about anywhere. So are those
really all Western Screech-Owls in your neighborhoods?
Later Mike

********************************************************************
Mike & MerryLynn Denny
1354 S. E. Central Ave.
College Place, WA 99324
509.529.0080 (h)

IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN BIRDING, YOU HAVEN'T LIVED!
*******************************************************************

_________________________________________________________

On October 26, Mark Houston wrote:

This is a situation that I was not involved with, but I thought a
number of people would find it interesting. Some time during the
second week of October, I think, Jim Acton of Spokane was called out
to the Davenport area to check out some snapshots of an owl that had
crashed into a farmhouse window. Apparently the collision occurred in
the very early morning and the owl sat stunned for about a half hour,
posing for pictures. Then it regained its senses and took off.
Although it was hard to believe, the people who took the shots said it
looked like a Boreal Owl.

The pictures showed that it was indeed a Boreal Owl. One or more have
been sent off to bird records people. I haven't seen one. The house
is south of US 2 between Davenport and Reardan, an area many birders
know from cruising for Snowy Owls and other good winter birds. It is
open wheat country, 15 miles or so from the Columbia and Spokane
Rivers and the mountains on the other side. Boreal Owl habitat is 60
miles or so to the north. In the Northwest, an individual showing up
so far from its home habitat is not completely unprecedented but very
very rare.

Mark Houston
Spokane