Hey all~
As Jimmy (James) Billstine alluded, the weather for our BOREAL OWL search above
Diamond Lake was unpleasant. What Jimmy purposely failed to mention was that
we did have an incredible wolf sighting that evening! However, due to the
sensitive nature surrounding wolves in Oregon, I wanted to contact local
wildlife agencies before releasing any details.
We started at sunset, owling for any species we could find along the various
backroads between Lemolo Lake and Cinnamon Butte. It was just too windy. Plus
I think birds sensed the drop in barometric pressure and the imminent bad
weather and thus, were disinclined to acquiesce to any type of solicitation.
At 2130 (9:30 pm) we drove up to Cinnamon Butte and continued up NF-100 to
about 6000' where a fallen tree blocked the road. The snow was getting pretty
deep anyway, so we donned our snowshoes and started hiking the road east in
hope of getting up to 7000' and reaching the Pacific Crest Trail. We stopped
every 10 minutes or so and played a BOREAL OWL song.
After slogging uphill for over an hour, through spitting rain and then snow,
with blisters growing bigger with each new step, I heard a sound off to my
right. I hollered at Jimmy, "Hey!" He stopped. It was quiet. The snow
crunched underfoot as I shifted my feet. And then, a small owl "chirped" from
the right. We waited and waited. Nothing. We decided to take a quick break
since we were stopped. I walked up to road a few yards. Jimmy got out his bag
of Teriyaki beef jerky. I heard snow crunching and saw that Jimmy was walking
towards me. I told him to turn off his light and that we could see well enough
in the moonlight. He did. We had just started crunching through snow again
when I heard the scuffle of rain gear and heard his sharp exclamation! I
looked and saw this huge wolf there in the moonlight, standing next to Jimmy.
In less than a second, the wolf snapped up the bag of Teriyaki beef jerky and
disappeared into the woods. We were both in shock! Wow! A wolf? It had to
be OR-7 or belong to his Rogue Pack.
http://dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/AKWA/rogue.asp
Understandably, I was a little freaked out, but I asked him if he was ok and
did he need help getting up (snow shoes can be awkward). He said he was fine
and started to get up, accidentally bumping his iPod and starting the BOREAL
OWL song again. After the 2nd song, I felt a WHAP! in the back of the head.
That had to have been an owl, but my headlamp had fallen off. Meanwhile, Jimmy
is still fumbling to get to his iPod. WHAP! again to the back of the head.
Immediately the bird began to scream and pop its bill in agitation. It came
down on me a third time with thrashing of wings and talons. Jimmy finally got
the iPod turned off. By the time we got our flashlights turned on, the little
owl was gone. Shortly after, it started to dump snow on us. We couldn't say
for sure what species of little owl it was, but it had all the fury of a
Tengmalm Viking. We still had an hour's trodge to get back to the truck. We
started heading back, elated & frustrated, dreaming of warm, dry clothes and
slipping off those blister-causing boots.
Be careful out there,Russ NamitzMedford, OR
