Dear Tweeters,

It sounds as if it might actually be easier to find
Western Screech-Owls in the Seattle area than it is up
in more rural Skagit County. After missing them for
years, I finally found one family of W Screeches north
of Hamilton last summer.

I used to find them every year in the Everett Lake
area, north of Concrete. In the late 1990's, I started
finding Barred Owls there. I have checked several
times over the last few years, and not found any
screeches up there since. I don't claim that the
presence of the Barred Owl was related to the
disappearance of the screeches, but it was
circumstantial evidence.

This fall, after the Western Screech-Owls north of
Hamilton had quieted down for the season, I heard a
Barred Owl; the Barred was about a mile from where the
screeches had been. I hope this does not bode ill for
the little guys.


Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com




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