This interesting post from Steve McDonald on OBOL this morning....

"The recent controversy about photographers harassing Snowy Owls brings to
mind what happened in the past. This link leads to an article which
mentions that in 1916-1917 there were 1,000 of them wintering in Washington and
hundreds in Oregon. It doesn't mention what I saw at the Brownsville
Historical Museum some years ago. They had a stuffed Snowy Owl there, with the
story about the Winter of 1916-1917. It said that over 400 of them came to
Western Oregon. Over the course of the season, every one of them was killed by
farmboys with .22 rifles. They had a contest, to see who could shoot the
most and the winner's name was published in newspapers. It's a wonder that
any raptors survived into the recent time of total protection, as they were
all shot whenever the opportunity presented itself. In the 1950s, Lane
County still offered a bounty on crows, ravens, jays and hawks, as well as on
many other species categorized as varmints.The actions of photographers
today seems less a problem, compared to that."

_http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/the-winter-of-the-snowy-owl_
(http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/the-winter-of-the-snowy-owl)

Richard Rowlett
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA