[mou] FW: Great Gray Owl, NMB Bird Profile Feature

[Alt, Mark]

FYI. Word from Michigan

Mark Alt=20
Brooklyn Center, MN=20
mark.alt@bestbuy.com=20
"I recalled that I had read somewhere that in the Middle Ages Hell was
envisioned as a place without birds." Jim Harrison=20
-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Baetsen [mailto:rbaet@voyager.net]=20
Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2005 2:56 PM
To: Alt, Mark
Subject: Re: Great Gray Owl, NMB Bird Profile Feature

Hello Mark,

I am glad that you enjoyed the nmb great gray owl images and text on the
species profile.  I have many other owl images and boreal forest bird
species on my website at www.rickbaetsen.com
Some are in the bird gallery and the bulk of them are in a searchable
stock
image database, found by clicking on the link in the upper right hand
corner
of the main page, do the advanced search for specific species, by common
name, Latin name or location.

While we do have a few great gray owls in northern Michigan this winter,
it
is basically nothing compared to what you have in northern MN.  A friend
of
mine over in the Arrowhead Region, told me it was possible to see well
more
than a hundred ggow's in an afternoon drive.  I understand it is a major
invasion year to the east of us in southern Ontario, north of Toronto
and up
near Algonquin provincial park.

As to our numbers, I have been up on searches and doing some limited
photography on about six days since last Nov 22nd, the last being on Feb
2,
but I did spend three full days in Sault Ste. Marie, in the heart of the
invasion territory in years when they come down, this Jan 28-30th.  My
high
number of ggow, was only four in any day, often we only are able to
locate
one great gray, and usually one hawk-owl on the days we have been out.
The
birds have not staked out a hunting territory, like they have in past
invasions, where they would be found in the top of the same white spruce
tree for weeks.  If you see one this year, it likely will not be found
there
the next morning.

I have located two of the three hawk-owls reported this winter, both of
them
were pretty regular in their locations for the early part of the winter,
but
they too now have moved on.

I am headed up to Chippewa Co. and the Sault Ste Marie area again in the
morning to go out with a couple friends and continue our searches.  We
are
enjoying what we do have this winter, but quite envious of what we have
heard of what you folks in MN have this winter.

I have conducted research on the northern saw-whet owl in northern MI
for
the past 18 years, conducting nocturnal auditory taped callback surveys.
I
got real lucky this past spring, on April 30th, when the night before I
heard a great gray owl calling, and on the day of the 30th I located the
first documented nest of the great gray owl in Michigan.  There were two
previous reports of immature birds, one of which I located in 1994, on
Neebish Island in Chippewa Co, but no nest was ever located.
If you might like to read of this nesting, I wrote up some text and have
a
few images on the old northern Michigan Birding message board at the
following link
http://www.northbirding.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi?s=3D420bc6e51=
2
65ff
ff;act=3DST;f=3D1;t=3D3859

I did write a paper for Michigan Birds and Natural History that will be
published this month on the nest and will have a better article on the
nesting than that of the nmb site on my website soon.

all the best, thanks for your note.
Rick Baetsen
Rick Baetsen
P.O. Box 623
Walloon Lake, MI 49796
phone/fax 231.535.2123
WEBSITE http://www.rickbaetsen.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alt, Mark" <Mark.Alt@bestbuy.com>
To: <rbaet@voyager.net>
Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2005 3:27 PM
Subject: Great Gray Owl, NMB Bird Profile Feature


> How many Great Grays are you seeing this year? I like your pictures
and
> text.
>
> Mark Alt
> President,
> Minnesota Ornithologists Union
> J. F. Bell Museum of Natural History
> University of Minnesota
> 10 Church Street SE
> Minneapolis, MN 55455-0104
> MOU.mn.org
> mark.alt@bestbuy.com
> Cell:  612-803-9085
>
>
>
>
>
>