Subject: [Tweeters] Barred Owl eats Screech Owl on my upcoming owl walks -
Date: Oct 14 23:27:56 2009
From: Stewart Wechsler - ecostewart at quidnunc.net


All,

After I posted the note advertising my upcoming owl walks on Tweeters and
the WNPS list in which I
intentionally piqued some possible interest with the note that attendees
would get to see a Barred Owl eating a Western Screech Owl I got one person
e-mailing me that they were upset at my using this to promote my owl walk.

An explanation seems due.

Towards the end of the summer I asked a friend if the Screech Owls using the
nest box in his yard successfully fledged young this year. He said no, that
it seems one of the adults was apparently nabbed (taken by a predator) and
that he was left with only one Screech Owl and no young this year. I later
started chatting with someone at Lincoln Park, where I spend a good deal of
time fighting the alien invasive weed invasions. He mentioned that his wife
took a photo this summer of one of the juvenile Barred Owls that had been
fed a bird of some sort. From his description, I concluded it was probably
a Screech Owl and asked if they would send me the photo. When I got the
photo it was indeed a Screech Owl leg dangling from the juvenile Barred
Owl's beak (with tell-tale feathers on the lower leg of the right size and
of the right
gray color).

While I was saddened by the thought of one member of the declining
population of our beloved
Western Screech Owls being eaten, I was pleased that I finally had solid
evidence that the Barred Owls were indeed eating Western Screech Owls after
speculating for years that this was a primary reason for their decline.

When I said that people that attended my upcoming owl
hikes at Camp Long would "see" a Barred Owl eating a Western Screech Owl, I
actually meant I would show them the photos of this that were sent to me.

To anyone that was upset at my using this teaser the way I did, my
apologies.

While some may believe that using this teaser as I did was in bad taste, it
is my
hope that we can now use, to good effect, the fact that a Barred Owl has now
been actually observed feeding its young a Western Screech Owl and that it
was documented in a photograph. I hope we can use this fact as a
springboard to a renewed discussion about the implications of successful,
and potentially successful, new immigrant species. We can hopefully have
further, more productive discussions of what, if anything, we can do to
minimize the damage from potential and existing successful new immigrant
species.

In particular I hope we can further discuss how we might most effectively
deal with the threats to other species by the Barred Owl. We now know that
Barred Owls are not only a grave threat to the already endangered Spotted
Owl, but a threat
also the Western Screech Owls and they can be assumed to be a threat to an
unknown number of additional species. These would be not only the species
that the Barred Owls eat or compete with, but also any species they
indirectly
impact by changing the species composition and abundance of various species
that have adapted to life together here over countless millenia.

-Stewart

Stewart Wechsler
-Ecological Consultant - Nature Guide
Naturalist - Botanist
206 932-7225
ecostewart at quidnunc.net
-Advice on the most site-appropriate native plants to maximize the site's
potential for native biodiversity
-Educational programs, nature walks, and field trips for schools, public and
private groups
-Botanical Surveys

For those that have had their interest in my upcoming programs, walks and
trips further piqued by this, I unabashedly give the information about these
upcoming programs again. (If any of these programs fill up I can arrage
additional sessions on request. Contact me directly with the above contact
information to do so.):

Celebrate upcoming Halloween with fun and fascinating owl and spider
adventures!

Owl Hike:
Saturday, October 17th from 7 - 9 pm - (as of Oct 11 only 6 spots left!)

Join me on one of my famous owl hikes at Camp Long in West Seattle. After a
short indoor guided tour of our live-mount owls, we'll take a fun night hike
through the deep dark forest to hoot for Barred Owls. We'll find their
tell-tale droppings (white-wash) where they perch, possibly find a pellet or
2 and determine what the owl ate the night before it was wretched up. We
might even see one of the owls in our binoculars or scope, hear them, or
both! Great Horned Owls occasionally show up at Camp Long in October to
November also, so we will look and hoot for these too! See a Screech Owl
being eaten by a Barred Owl! As always, it will be a hoot for you or your
whole family! Bring binoculars and a flashlight (to use sparingly) if you
want, or borrow ours. Dress for the weather.

Fee $8 per person.
Pre-registration is recommended to ensure a spot for this Seattle Parks
Department program.
Call Camp Long at 206 684-7434 to pre-register as soon as possible as these
programs often fill up fast.
Alternately you can pre-register on line:
<http://class.seattle.gov/parks/Activities/ActivitiesCourseDetails.asp?aid=247&cid=45650>


Family Spider Hunt:
Saturday, October 17th from 10:30 am to 12:00 noon

First meet Rosy our 18 year-old Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula in the
Wonder-Lab and get a chance to shake hands with her, we'll then go on an
adventure to net and shake spiders out of the trees and find them in their
hidey holes! We'll use one trick to make the webs more visible, and another
trick to fool the spiders into thinking there is a bug in their web. We'll
hold them by their silk threads, look at them in bug boxes and learning
their fascinating stories. We'll likely find jumpers, hunters, and various
sorts of web weavers. We'll all have a blast and everyone of all ages will
learn more about these beloved creatures that eat the bugs that may bug us.

Fee $7 per person.
Call Camp Long at 206 684-7434 to pre-register for this Seattle Parks Dept.
program.
Alternately you can pre-register on line:
<http://class.seattle.gov/parks/Activities/ActivitiesCourseDetails.asp?aid=247&cid=45652>


Owl Hike:
Saturday, November 21st 7 - 9pm
See description above for Oct 17 Owl Hike

Fee $8 per person.
Pre-registration is recommended to ensure a spot for this Seattle Parks
Dept. program.
Call Camp Long at 206 684-7434 to pre-register.
Or to pre-register on-line:
<http://class.seattle.gov/parks/Activities/ActivitiesCourseDetails.asp?aid=247&cid=45651>


Got requests for more programs? I hope to put together some additional
programs that I would mostly offer on my own (not necessarilly through the
parks department).
I can lead virtually any kind of group on almost any type of nature program.
Wild native and alien plants, butterflies, birds, reptiles, amphibians and
various invertebrates inlcluding beach dwellers are among my specialties.
Your requests could help me get past my indecision.

Possible future programs might include:

Weed identification and strategic weeding and native plant community
restoration tactics:
Over the years I have worked out a number of strategies with which to
maximize one's effectiveness in working to turn back the tide of weedy
aliens displacing the native plants that our bugs, birds and beasts depend
on. We would practice some of these tactics hands-on in different green
spaces. Almost any wild plant dead or alive, native or alien, from
seedlings to saplings could be identified and its story and ecology
discussed.

"Church of Nature" "service" in the park. - Sit around and talk nature over
morning coffee / juice followed by a bird / bug / plant / fungus / etc. walk
with a stewardship element.
While I am always preaching the gospel of nature, I'd try not to get too
preachy.

Guerilla seeding - biodiversity restoration. We'd first sort seeds from my
collection of local native plant species. We'd discuss their ecology,
including habitat and butterflies, birds and beasts they support and
identification of each species. We'd then choose some seed species to
strategically toss (or maybe sling-shot in balls of dirt) to appropriate
re-introduction sites along roadways or in parks. We could theoretically
systematically go through nearly our whole local flora over a series of
programs.

Plant salvage, seed gathering and stewardship trips.
Salamander Sallies (sally forth seeking salamanders)
Birding walks / trips
+++