The Wandering Naturalist: Long-eared Owls in the south loop in chicago. you call these sensitive?

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Long-eared Owls in the south loop in chicago. you call these sensitive?

Here in WI and in MN, just posting LE Owl location to a listserve can get you in big trouble. Down in Chicago, LE Owls are becoming a celebrity with birders throughout the city and with a certain elementary school where these birds have taken up residence.

http://www.nbc5.com/news/15032648/detail.html

http://www.nbc5.com/slideshow/news/15031398/detail.html

So this means that LE Owls in Chicago are less sensitive than Owls in WI or MN?,
means that you can give away LE Owl locations in IL but not in WI? If I posted LE Owl locations to Wisbirdn, I'd get shot by the list owner and a few dozen other people. Because of this repression of sightings, information about these birds has not accumulated like it should. I mean, people in WI don't even post LE Owl sightings to Ebird!! much less tell anyone else about them. They are a far too understudied bird and I think we underestimate just how adaptable these birds are.

Reference: Birdchick blog: http://www.birdchick.com/2008/01/so-much-for-sensitive-owls.html#comments

3 comments:

Owlman said...: Great post! I couldn't agree more with you. Owls are such an awesome 'marketing' tool to draw people into birding. I have yet to find anyone who didn't like owls. I understand that you don't want to have people harass the owls, but in my humble opinion owls are less worried about people than we think. Look how many owls actually live close to people. Posting a sighting on a birding listserv will get the die-harders out there to look at the owls not zillions of people. We need to break the secrecy about owls so everyone can enjoy these elusive and MAGNIFICENT birds!; January 17, 2008 at 2:54 PM
Anonymous said...: I agree Owlman! I am new to bird watching. I happen to be fortunate to be able to enjoy the bald eagles this winter along the Mississippi River in Illinois/Iowa. I am very excited about the possibility of being able to see the long eared owl in Chicago - so much so, that I will be driving 3 hours each way just for the opportunity to see them. It isn't often that other watchers share information on where they spot the uncommon birds.; January 25, 2008 at 8:42 PM
jenniferk said...: I believe I either a long eared owl or a screech owl this evening around 7:30 in Cincinnati. It is my first sighting of an owl and I have been looking for years.; July 20, 2009 at 11:00 PM

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