Fw: [mou] My two cents worth: the winter of owls
Mike Hendrickson
smithville4@charter.net
Fri, 14 Jan 2005 16:55:42 -0600
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Hendrickson" <smithville4@charter.net>
To: "bill lane" <owlman@mindspring.com>
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2005 3:26 PM
Subject: Re: [mou] My two cents worth: the winter of owls
>I agree with everything Bill has mentioned. I will not report any heard
>Boreal Owls in Lake Co or Cook Co. I will not report the best places to
>hear Boreal Owls or the best roads. Last year information was shared and
>the male Boreal Owl was lured in by taping by birders. I will as many
>other local birders have agreed to not report Spring Boreal Owls anywhere
>in Northern Minnesota.
>
> I encourage birders in Minnesota and outside of Minnesota to support Bill
> Lane's Owl research and visit Bill's web site and read the best source in
> the US about Boreal Owls in Minnesota http://www.mindspring.com/~owlman/
>
> I would even go as far and support him by helping put owl nest boxes up or
> send him donations to keep his owl research going. To those that went on
> MOU field trips in October of 2003 and Nov. of 2004 know how devoted Bill
> is in saving and understanding Boreal and Saw Whet Owls in NE Minnesota.
> In my opinion its not about numbers of owls he's banding its about the
> time he puts in learning about these owl. I can't think of anyone who
> would put themselves under a tree in the middle of late winter night
> huddling under a tree and spend hours observing owl behavior. That's
> devotion and love for owls.
>
> I encourage those to email Bill and ask if he needs help hanging nest
> boxes up or if you can't do that then send him some kind of donation to
> keep his research going. I could go on and on about my support for Bill
> but I just want to know Bill is doing some unbelievable work up in
> Northern Lake Co and Cook Co.
>
> Mike Hendrickson
> Duluth, MN
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "bill lane" <owlman@mindspring.com>
> To: <mou-net@cbs.umn.edu>
> Sent: Friday, January 14, 2005 1:24 PM
> Subject: [mou] My two cents worth: the winter of owls
>
>
>>I seldom interject my opinions into mou-related matters, but given both
>>real and perceived controversies within the owl (and human) community,
>>felt a different perspective of the irruption was warranted.
>>
>> Reading recent posts has been interesting, amusing, and frustrating.
>> There have been attempts to justify intrusive human behavior at the
>> individual and group levels; define owl stress (it depends on what your
>> definition of "is" "is"); explain the intricacies of owl behavior; label
>> the irruption as a wonderful migration; and, to describe the hypnotic
>> spell cast by a roosting owl. Recently, detailed instructions for
>> medical intervention have appeared along with the suggestion that the
>> Raptor Center should act as a repository for dying owls who, whether you
>> want to accept it or not, should die.
>>
>> Trust me, I don't make a statement like this with disregard for others or
>> their feelings or perceptions. Nor do I say this as an insensitive,
>> data-gathering biologist, although some will certainly come to those
>> conclusions. Nineteen years with a nocturnal species, afterall, has
>> afforded me a great deal of humility.
>>
>> During those 19 years (spring, some summers, and now winters), I have
>> recorded data, quantified habitat, watched courtship behaviors,
>> radio-tagged breeding adults, spent hundreds of hours in steadfast
>> observation, watched the first flights of young owls, and watched nests
>> flourish and lately, disappear. I have felt fortunate. I have felt
>> cursed. After "participating" in the last 5 irruptions (1989, 1993,
>> 1996, 1997, and 2001), however, I can truthfully say that I loathe
>> irruption years because during irruption years, owls die. Then again,
>> during irruption years, owls are supposed to die. I accept that. I
>> don't like it, but I accept it.
>>
>> Irruptions are about owl biology and the Strigidaen response to small
>> mammal population cycles. Much of this "machinery" occurs far to our
>> north and we just happen to be proximal to a large, diverting body of
>> water which ends most north-south movements of owls and conveniently,
>> increases their visibility. The death of irruptive owls - the genetic
>> elimination of those individuals unable to utilize resources in an
>> unfamiliar landscape - is unfortunate, but is a function of life in the
>> northern latitudes. Ultimately, these deaths will serve boreal and
>> other owl species, well (a.k.a. survival of the fittest).
>>
>> As bleak as irruptions are, without them, boreal owls in Minnesota will
>> move towards localized extinction. We need the irruptions; rather, the
>> survivors of the irruptions to supplement/replace/enhance the individual
>> and genetic presence in landscapes once rich with boreals but now,
>> alarmingly void of them.
>>
>> Is extinction the direction Minnesota's boreals are headed? My
>> involvement with the species is but a brief window but consider this:
>> only one successful nest has been documented in the last 3 years and the
>> number of singing (i.e. breeding-ready) male owls has declined from an
>> approximate annual average of 35 (1987-90; including the 1989 irruption)
>> to an approximate annual average of 6 (2001-04; including the 2001
>> irruption). If you are trying to sustain a population, a decrease in the
>> number of adults is not the way to do it.
>>
>> But what if the irruption works as "it is supposed to", there are a
>> number of individuals that survive, yet the North Woods landscape no
>> longer has sufficient resources to support the influx? In northeast
>> Minnesota, those resources are diverse mixes of old forest aspen for
>> nesting and large tracts of lowland spruce for roosting and foraging.
>> Unfortunately, most of the cavity trees selected by boreal owls for
>> courtship and/or nesting (approximately 80 since 1988) are gone. With
>> the loss of cavity trees has come a noticeable decrease in boreal owls.
>> Is that a relationship or a coincidence?
>>
>> I suggest there is a tangible relationship, especially since the
>> proportions of lowlands within the landscape have changed little from the
>> tracts I first observed in 1987. Furthermore, despite concerted efforts,
>> a "smarter" observer approach, and more time in the field during the
>> breeding season, there is scant evidence that alternative cavity trees
>> are being located or utilized by boreals. In other words, owls that
>> survive an irruption might do wonders for the genetic composition of our
>> metapopulations, but if critical habitat resources are limited, or
>> absent, there will be no reason for the owls to call northern Minnesota
>> home.
>>
>> Regardless of ones' approach to the current irruption, my greatest
>> concern is not how individual owls are treated, how excited the birding
>> community becomes every fourth winter, what economic rewards come locally
>> or individually, what correct or incorrect information is presented, what
>> intervention occurs, who has the final say on birding and ethics and
>> decorum in our North Woods, or who saw the most owls. Instead, my
>> concern is that Minnesota's resident boreal owl population is in trouble
>> and our collective focus should always be towards the spring and when and
>> where owls reproduce, and not the irruptive winters, when owls die.
>>
>>
>> Respectfully,
>>
>> Bill Lane
>>
>> ******
>> FYI: I will be speaking at the MRVAC January meeting on the 27th of
>> January. Information may be found at :
>> http://home.comcast.net/~mrvac/trumpeter.htm
>>
>> owlman@mindspring.com
>> www.mindspring.com/~owlman
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