[mou] owls as individuals

[Steve Foss]

After spending two days over the Thanksgiving holiday
observing and shooting (with the camera, of course) great
gray and northern hawk owls in the Lake County and Sax/Zim
area and points south, it seems clear that individual birds
respond differently to similar stimuli.

While I did much of my shooting from inside the vehicle (as
close to owls as 10 feet away), I also went out on foot
several times. 

Some owls took off as soon as the vehicle slowed. Some of
those flew to perches a short distance away and continued
to hunt with intensity, but others kept on going out of
sight. And some stayed put. Perhaps that's related to the
amount of stress each individual bird is under, but perhaps
not. Forming conclusions after so few hours of study is a
dicey business. Some birds didn't seem at all bothered that
I was near, and they hunted with what seemed to be no
distraction. Those birds I felt comfortable staying with
for as long as 20 minutes each. There were nine of those,
and each of them scored on mice/voles while I was watching.
In some cases, I was sitting on the sloping ditch outside
the vehicle and fairly close to the birds.

I did notice that owls with fresh catches tended to fly
away immediately and out of sight of the vehicle. 

To be close to these owls has been my great pleasure. To
assess each situation as it comes, to weigh one's
impression of whether being in proximity to the individual
bird is adding to its stress, to care more for the bird
than for the photo and withdraw at signs of agitation —
these are lessons in humility.

See you out there, and good owling,

Steve


		
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