Saturday, I and some friends went to Damon Point at Ocean Shores --(parking is along a curve--with no good signage). Walk was about two miles each way to where the owls were.
We saw three, but had been told that there were at least six seen that morning.

Two were heavily marked, one was almost white--maybe an adult? But was hard to see because of all the people crowding around it.

It was great to see these beautiful birds;
it was not great to see the over-eager people who were vying for the best possible photo and crowding these owls.

As we were walking toward the area of these owls, I saw two different owls who had been pressured into flying, wasting valuable calories, to get away from people, who then moved toward where they settled. One of these owls flew again, so it was obviously disturbed.

The third owl decided not to move, so people kept moving closer. Since I wouldn't go any closer because of my concern for the owls, I could only guess at the distance, but from where I stood, they (at least four, with three others about 100 feet) couldn't have been more than 50 feet from the owl, and maybe even closer. One of my friends said 25 feet...

If we, as the birding community don't monitor ourselves, and show by example, who will be loooking out for the welfare of birds out of their normal habitat? Must we diminish their chances of survival by competition of who has the best picture? Loving them to death is still death.


Christine Southwick
N Seattle/Shoreline
clsouthwick at q.com