Subject: General Comments: [Tweeters] thoughts about Snowy Owls and their
Date: Dec 12 18:22:03 2011
From: Cindy Ashy - tunicate89 at yahoo.com


I also wanted to comment on some of the other comments.

Even if Snowy Owl's are not starving when they get here (and it seems reasonable to me that they aren't), they could still be on a rather tight energy budget in terms of having the big migration back. Tight energy budget vs. starving. Not the same thing of course but a tight energy budget still concerns me in terms of disturbing these owls. To me, it is more important to be conscience of disturbing an animal when it is in a phase of its life where it is on a tight energy budget than when it is not. I would think migration time would fall into this category almost every time.

I also don't think we can look at this in black and white terms. Counting owls does this. Either they survive or they don't. Either they move away or they don't. To me, it isn't this simple. Disturbance and the ultimate effect it has a single bird or on a population of birds is much fuzzier than this. If an owl is disturbed frequently during its stay here, it may not out right die or outright move to a new location. However, the accumulated disturbance it is subjected to may still lower its probability of survival in the future. It could also lower its reproductive success. To me, it is not a matter of all or none - black or white - dead or not - moves or not. Any particular distressed owl may survive while here, may make it back to the Arctic, and may reproduce. However, the accumulated effect may be that fewer owls do so overall because of the disturbance - or perhaps they have fewer offspring. I've worried more about this sort of thing in shorebirds
than with Snowy Owls but I think it applies to any migrating animal that is being disturbed. Accumulated effects also apply over decades/centuries, not just within one year.

My other point is that even though these owls can move to another location, the amount of habitat that is near easy hunting grounds is dwindling every year. Think how different the landscape must have looked to Snowy Owls in irruption years pre-1900, pre-1800, pre-1700, etc versus now.

We have concentrated wildlife into smaller and smaller places, fragmented that habitat, and added things that degrade the habitat and cause disturbances. That includes those of us who love these birds.

I just bring these issues up as food for thought.

Cindy Ashy