[mou] FW: To Those Interested in Documenting Owl Sightings

[Alt, Mark]

This is a memo Steve Wilson, a MN DNR Ecologist based in Tower, MN has
sent to DNR Wildlife and Forestry associates in the northern part of the
state. Steve is interested in handling personally all records of
Saw-Whet and Boreal Owls seen or, sadly, found dead. He gave me
permission to publish this to these list servers. FYI

Mark Alt
MOU President

Subject: To Those Interested in Documenting Owl Sightings

The largest irruption of northern owls ever documented is occurring in
Minnesota this winter. Many of you no doubt have noticed the unusual
numbers, and visibility, of great gray and Northern hawk-owls, and now
increasingly, boreal owls. All these species become nomadic and/or shift
to more daytime hunting when their prey base (small mammal populations)
collapses, as has apparently happened across an unusually large swath of
Canada and northern Minnesota. This phenomenon has brought large numbers
of bird enthusiasts from all over the United States, and even other
countries, to northern Minnesota, and attracted regional and national
media attention (for example, NBC Nightly News is expected to broadcast
a piece on it this week).
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Some of you have asked if anyone is keeping track of sightings. The
Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU) is doing so, and will compile
reports at the end of the season that will be published in their
journal, The Loon. If any of you are interested in contributing your
sightings of owls, the MOU would welcome them, as you folks often get
back into areas where birds would otherwise go unreported. I've attached
a spreadsheet you can use for this purpose, but any reporting format
that includes the requested information is fine. If you decide to
participate, please return your spreadsheet or report to me at least
once-a-month.=20
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If you are aware of any dead owls turning up, they can be brought to
the nearest DNR Area Wildlife or Nongame Wildlife office. I've attached
a Word document that details how they should be handled in order to
optimize their value to education institutions, like the University of
Minnesota or Chicago Field Museum, that are receiving collected
specimens. =20
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I will be focusing on the boreal owl irruption, and whether any of our
other small, resident owl species, the Northern saw-whet owl, become
involved. If you see either a boreal or Northern saw-whet owl, find a
dead one, or know someone who found a dead one, I would appreciate if
you could email or phone me as soon as possible with the relevant (see
spreadsheet) information. In fact, if you've entered the information in
the spreadsheet, just attach the whole spreadsheet to the email and send
it; it's not a problem if other sightings on the spreadsheet were
reported to me already.
=20
Thanks in advance to those who choose to participate.

Steve Wilson
218-753-2580 x 270 (day)
218-753-6110 (eve)
wils@frontiernet.net=20