Hi Tweets

>Dennis writes: When driving back, from La Conner to Conway by the main
route between about 6:30 and 7:00 pm, we saw FOUR Barn Owls along the road.
It was snowing to beat the band and very windy, and each owl was flying
along or just off the edge of the road, and we saw it somewhat ahead of us
in our headlights.

Once there is any kind of snow level, Barn Owls have an extremely hard time
echo-locating prey in snow and you'll see them striking unsuccessfully again
and again. Week-long persistent snow cover is a major reason why northern
Washington and southern BC are the northern limits to their western range.
Basically, any depth of snow distresses Barn Owls by throwing off their
echo-location, unlike Great Gray Owls, which can successfully
echo-locate prey in a couple of feet of snow . And when snow cover is
present for several days, and you see Barn Owls hunting or sitting on
fence-posts in the day-time, you know they're really in trouble.

best wishes

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
loblollyboy at gmail.com

Every answer deepens the mystery.
- E.O. Wilson
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