Subject: [Tweeters] Snowy Owl - Port Townsend
Date: Nov 15 17:41:10 2012
From: Kelly McAllister - mcallisters4 at comcast.net


I stood at about 75 foot distance from this owl from 11:30 until 4:30. At 4:30, a truck pulled up on the other side of the channel that goes into the marina. People got out and a guy wrapped what appeared to be a beach towel around his neck started clambering over the old pilings leading out to where the owl was perched. As he got close, the owl flushed and flew down the shoreline to perch on pilings associated with the old ferry dock, a well known Bald Eagle perch. I could only surmise that the guy was intending to throw the towel over the owl, probably to get it to rehab for some care and feeding. I remember, vaguely, a mention of the Sarvey policy to capture owls after a certain number of hours in one place, as though an inactive owl is always a starving or otherwise ailing owl. If this is really what people are thinking, I?m aghast. I didn?t feel that this particular owl was exhibiting unusual behavior for a Snowy Owl. Lengthy periods of loafing seems to be the norm for a Snowy Owl when it is unburdened by adoring throngs, isn?t it? In any case, I could only view the close approach as strange and troubling.

Kelly McAllister
Olympia, Washington