Bob,
Well, you were smarter than me. After the first one was reported in Wallowa
County, I drove over there and nearly got lost in the woods after hiking a
couple of miles down into a deep canyon, where it was seen. And I didn't find
the owl, either.
Darrel
From: "Robert O'Brien" <baro@xxxxxxx>
To: roygerig@xxxxxxxxx
Cc: "OBOL" <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2019 11:13:36 PM
Subject: [obol] Re: Barred Owls a slight reprise
Being an old-timer I do remember this sequence of events. I recall walking over
to the Multnomah County Library in downtown Portland to see a barred owl
perched High overhead. This had been reported on the old phone tree of long
ago, before the internet.
But I do have a question, do Barred owls eat red tree voles?
On Wednesday, October 30, 2019, Roy Gerig < [ mailto:roygerig@xxxxxxxxx ;|
roygerig@xxxxxxxxx ] > wrote:
Many of you will not remember this. In the 1980s and earlier, when Eric Forsman
and Wayne Logan and others were looking at the Spotted Owl and beginning to
prove that STOC (Strix occidentalis, the Spotted Owl) requires decadent Old
Growth trees for nest structures and Old Growth stands for their multi canopy
vertical structure to feed on red tree voles and flying squirrels.
In those days it was that the very first Barred Owls were being observed in the
Northwest, and some said it was that they had recently found their way around
the Northern Rockies and were spreading south into Spotted Owl areas. Being
more aggressive, the cousin Strix Barred Owl might be the end of the Spotted
Owl no matter what else we might do to try and save it...hence the shooting of
Barred Owls these days in some rather experimental way, a last ditch effort to
save some Spotted Owls
Regarding all of the dead Barred Owls people find on the beach these days. Holy
Crap. There must be a whole lot of Barred Owls out there. This population
increase has happened since there were almost no BAOW in Oregon in 1990, to
now. Barred Owls have hugely increased while Northern Spotted Owls have all but
disappeared, in some part because of the BAOW. I never wanted them here, but
the world keeps on changing and this change has been much too fast
Nothing I can do about it, and so can you
Have your ever seen a red tree vole nest? No, but you have heard of them. Like
a blossom on a stem, 150 feet or more up around an OG tree, I have seen a few.
Roy Gerig Salem OR
