Gene Hunn wrote:
"Without minimizing the threats to Spotted Owls in the Pacific Northwest we should realize that Northern Spotted Owls continue to be widely distributed in northwestern California where Barred Owls remain rare. It seems the Barred Owl invasion may have natural limits"

a field biologist friend of mine who lives in Northern California and has worked with various avian species in the field wrote to me:
"........... we are still being invaded. Check out this attachment- I think I pulled it up in 2009. BDOW have invaded SN, Cascade and Coast range- still coming... plus we have CA Spotted owl in SN, a different subspecies. We are detecting an increasing number of BDOW in the Plumas Nat. Forest in the SN."

(n.b. the attachment was a map of Barred owl locations in CA; I believe SN= Sierra Nevada)



Eric Kowalczyk
Seattle