[mou] FW: Great Gray Owls

[Alt, Mark]

Some interesting facts from a very knowledgeable source. FYI.

Mark Alt=20
Sr. Project Manager=20
Entertainment Software Supply Chain=20
Project Resources Group (PRG)=20
Best Buy Co., Inc.=20
Mark.Alt@BestBuy.com=20
(W) 612-291-6717=20
(Cell) 612-803-9085



-----Original Message-----
From: Gord Court [mailto:Gord.Court@gov.ab.ca]=20
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2005 12:46 PM
To: 'Alt, Mark'
Subject: RE: Great Gray Owls

Hello Mark:

Good to hear from you and good to hear you are having a super Great Gray
Owl
year.  We are very interested in hearing of any banding activities for
gray
owls or hawk owls in Minnesota this year.  Banders in Alberta have
probably
banded between 500 and 700 great grays and nearly as many hawk owls in
the
last decade.  We have had returns of great grays over 400 miles away and
have a hawk owl that was banded in central Alberta recovered in Alaska.
It
is not inconceivable that your banders may be running into a few birds
from
out our way.

As you will know, significant steps in sexing and aging great gray owls
(up
to 4 years) have been made in the last 10 years or so.  Using these
techniques, any birds that are captured should certainly be aged/sexed.
We
are very interested in the relative proportion of certain age/sex
classes
during irruptive events like the one you are now witnessing.  In our
last
super winter, we noted that over 70% of the birds in the irruption were
in
their second winter of life (i.e. about 18 months old at Christmas of
the
irruption winter).  These birds are made obvious by retaining virtually
all
juvenile (gray tipped) primary and secondary feathers except for primary
5
(and occasionally 6) which will be adult (shorter, wider, with no gray
tip).
Many of these events are also dominated by female birds, so it will be
very
interesting to hear of the sex of the birds captured or found dead in
Minnesota this year.  I summarized some of our observations on great
gray
irruptions in a popular article in Natural History (February 1998  Vol.
107:50-56); it may be of interest to you.

As for northern hawk owl, we have also had a super year.  My banding
colleague, Ray Cromie has captured more than 150 individuals since the
middle of October.  We get wintering hawk owls in most years near
Edmonton,
but they are most often juveniles.  This year, adult and sub-adult
(second
year) birds are dominating, something that suggests that rodent
populations
in the boreal regions have really tanked out this year.

I am sure you will really enjoy the rest of the irruption - I would
appreciate hearing any and all news of this event.  Best of luck.

Cheers

Gordon Court =20

> Gordon Court, Ph.D.
> Provincial Wildlife Status Biologist
> Fish and Wildlife Division, SRD
> 2nd Floor, Great West Life Building
> 9920-108 St., Edmonton, Alberta
> Canada T5K 2M4 =20
> Species at Risk Program web site:=20
> http://www3.gov.ab.ca/srd/fw/speciesatrisk/
>=20


-----Original Message-----
From: Alt, Mark [mailto:Mark.Alt@bestbuy.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2005 7:46 AM
To: gord.court@gov.ab.ca; rayshirley@telus.net
Subject: Great Gray Owls


Barb Beck gave me your contact info. I am the president of the Minnesota
Ornithologists' Union and as you probably know, we have some of your
owls down here. I do not know your areas of expertise and am interested
in all aspects of Owl biology and behavior. What are your areas of
specialty and what are your observations about these birds this winter?
What questions ought we be asking this year? Any comments, advice, etc.
will be shared by me with our scientific community ( our researchers and
banders ) and/or our public list server, depending on the content.
Please fee free to share your comments. Thank you.

Mark Alt=20
President,=20
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



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