The Oregon Birding Association Spotted Owl Field Trip - May 15, 2016.
This trip was lead by Janice Reid a wildlife Biologist for the US Forest
Service Pacific Northwest Research Station. Janice has studied Spotted Owls for
many years in the area west of Roseburg in Douglas County. She generously
shared her knowledge with 12 field trip participants. It was great opportunity
to see an experienced and knowledgeable wildlife biologist interacting with a
sensitive bird in a difficult landscape. We all left with a new appreciation
of this owl and its status.
Janice took us to an area west of Roseburg, we will call it a "secure
undisclosed location”, miles past a locked gate. After a short “tail gate”
discussion of Spotted Owl biology, study, status and appreciation we took a
walk down an unmarked abandoned logging road. We walked to a site that was
known to be occupied by single male Spotted Owl, not currently part of a
nesting pair. After a bit of time, and for some, an additional steep, straight
downhill, cross-county walk, the owl was observed. A bit later the owl moved to
an area where the entire group was able to experience and enjoy extended close
views. Many photos were taken.
A recent Cornell Lab of Ornithology - Living Bird magazine article included a
detailed profile of Janice and the current status of the Northern Spotted Owl:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/evidence-of-absence-northern-spotted-owls-are-still-vanishing-from-the-northwest/
<https://www.allaboutbirds.org/evidence-of-absence-northern-spotted-owls-are-still-vanishing-from-the-northwest/>
Ken Chamberlain
OBA Field Trip Chair
photos in eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S29712414
