Hi Again Tweets - I'm a little disappointed in the limited on-line indignation to date re. this awful event, although several of you have emailed me off-line. FYI, I forwarded the ebird post to FWS enforcement, and will call their hot line tomorrow to follow up. I'm really just a bystander to this, though; unfortunately, to take effective action, Sandy Schreven will need to be involved; I would hope that Sandy will perhaps email me off-line and we can strategize? We may get a picture, if the bird is still hanging, tomorrow am.

In the meantime, my elation at having seen this magnificent life bird Wednesday has evaporated. As a side note, I must say that I had a disturbing, but not hostile (?) conversation with a local near Mansfield on Friday. He stopped his big pickup to ask what we were looking for (with the scope set up by the Subaru). When I said an owl, he (prophetically?) said oh, yeah, he shoots 'em when he sees 'em...had a Great-horned around recently, but it got 'lead poisoning'. (He also mentioned the need for gates at the passes to keep west siders out. He didn't mention it but was probably on his way to join the Bundys in Burns). - Happier Birding! - Jon Hougthon, Edmonds

From: Jon Houghton
Sent: Saturday, January 09, 2016 3:53 PM
To: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Cc: 'merdave at homenetnw.net' <merdave at homenetnw.net>; 'Connally, Wendy A (DFW)' <Wendy.Connally at dfw.wa.gov>
Subject: Hawk Owl Horror?!?

Hi Tweets - not to ruin your day but, the following post just came up on ebird's rare bird alerts wire:


"Northern Hawk Owl (Surnia ulula) (1)

- Reported Jan 09, 2016 12:30 by Sandy Schreven

- Cassimer Bar Wildlife Area, Okanogan, Washington

- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=48.0936744,-119.7121811&ll=48.0936744,-119.7121811

- Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S26801658
- Comments: "Spotted the NHOW soon after arriving. Home owner had posted a sign stating no photographs so out of respect for that we went up the road a bit. As we were ready to leave a truck pulled up to the driveway and the man inside appeared to write down our license plate as we drove past. We left the area to bird Cassimer Bar waterfront for about an hour. Before leaving for home we drove through the area to see if the owl had moved so that a photo could be taken. What we saw instead was what appeared to be the owl hanging by one foot, upside down dead from the tree. We remembered hearing a gunshot a short while earlier. No pictures taken we felt it best to leave the area. Feeling sick!"

I'm betting we're all are. If this is true, I hope someone can get a picture of the carcass (without becoming one yourself). This guy should be prosecuted within the full extent! Maybe with Sandy's observations would be enough to convict if the bird is indeed hanging from a tree on the property and was live one gunshot earlier. This guy should be prosecuted within the full extent!

Jon Houghton, Edmonds