[obol] Birds of Oregon: A *General* Reference
- From: Joel Geier <joel.geier@xxxxxxxx>
- To: Oregon Birders OnLine <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 19:21:52 -0800
Just one more OBOL posting here tonight, unless I think of something
else or someone vociferously objects to this one ...
I'm a proud owner of this volume, and I'm privileged to have met the
editors at least briefly (although I failed to get autographs when I had
the chance).
If copies are still available for purchase, I strongly recommend it for
anyone who wants to feel informed about the status and distribution of
Oregon birds. My copy is not up for sale.
The editors of BOGR -- Dave Marshall, Matt Hunter, and Alan Contreras --
put a substantial part of their lives into this work, and can be very
proud of the result.
The multitudinous contributors can also be very proud of their
contributions. The editors can once again be proud that they tapped into
the knowledge of Oregon's most knowledgeable birders and ornithologists,
when they chose the authors of the species accounts.
Anyone reading this who knows my writing style is no doubt anticipating
the phrase, "all of that said ...." But it doesn't really apply here.
The editors, and the authors of the species accounts all have my full
admiration.
All of that said (yep, it was bound to come at some point ;-) it's
important to recognize how the individual authors' voices play into the
species accounts, and as Alan suggested, dig into additional references
before you put yourself out on an indefensible limb.
For Burrowing Owls, Greg Green gives an extremely informative account of
the recent research on this species on its current nesting range in
Oregon, as well as other relevant research in the Pacific Northwest. He
also describes the unsuccessful (re)introduction attempt near Corvallis
in the 1980s, which apart from this account, I doubt that I would have
heard of.
In short, this is a valuable account of recent work on Burrowing Owls in
Oregon. However it misses some key information about past status in the
Willamette Valley, as mentioned in Bob Altman's article that I gave a
link to previously.
If anyone who previously commented on this thread had looked into the
species accounts in Gabrielson & Jewett's 1940 classic "Birds of the
Pacific Northwest (Birds of Oregon)," they would have seen mention of
some of the past reports of Burrowing Owls in the Willamette Valley
during nesting season, which Bob brought up in his article.
Bob managed to track down a few more records, including reports from
outside of normal ornithological records (in particular, an OSU
herpetologist who encountered Burrowing Owls while collecting
rattlesnakes on Peterson Butte near Lebanon).
There is not much doubt that Burrowing Owls nested in the Willamette
Valley through the first half of the last century. As for their current
status and perceptions of modern birders, I'm indebted to David Fix for
informing me of the phrase "declining baselines."
Whether you've spent 20 or 40 or 50 of your most recent years birding in
the Willamette Valley, your perceptions are a long way removed from the
ecosystem that prevailed here in the early 1800s. This disconnect is
perhaps a little easier for me to process -- since I grew up in a
midwestern prairie landscape where human impacts were generally
acknowledged, and there were many eyewitness accounts such as Laura
Ingalls Wilder's of what the landscape looked like before settlement.
A little more grounding in historical reality, before the period when
most of us self-described "old-timers" were still in diapers (and
ecologically sensible ones at that, since disposable diapers hadn't yet
been invented), can be found in the photo collection of the Salem public
library. I encourage everyone to look at that collection, and also to
pick up and read a copy of Gabe & Jewett's classic treatise.
I suspect that I'm repeating Lars Norgren's admonishments on this point,
but so be it. Lars is a unique asset to our birding community, both
because he's a skilled birder, but even more so, because he's paid
attention to the historical data.
Good birding,
Joel
--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvallis
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