Great Grey

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Carl Small

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Feb 23, 2017, 2:24:42 PM2/23/17
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Nice look at the Searsmont Great Grey Owl- same location as mention-
Skip Small
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Logan Parker

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Feb 23, 2017, 2:52:58 PM2/23/17
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Hey there Skip,

When did you see the owl today? I was there for a few hours this morning, but had to get to work... I hope to get back out.

- Logan

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Sarah Caputo

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Feb 23, 2017, 7:11:29 PM2/23/17
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Drat.  I looked along Magog after work but no luck.  Was just after dusk.  Did spot a subadult Bald Eagle on Muzzy Ridge which bookended the adult I saw by the old apple squeeze this morning.


I also have a resident barred owl at work in Belfast. Comes and looks in our windows, and then flies across route 1 to check out the inn.


Sarah



From: maine...@googlegroups.com <maine...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Richard Harris Podolsky <richard...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2017 11:56:00 PM
To: Maine birds
Subject: [Maine-birds] Great Grey
 
It's there. Very nice looks hunting at sunset.

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David Lewis

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Feb 24, 2017, 11:03:46 AM2/24/17
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It's in that same field, several watching and all keeping a respectful distance from the bird. When I was there it was mostly stationary in a tree, rotating its head some. A very impressive bird even thru a cheap pocket scope.

Thanks again to the guy who let me peer into his real scope!

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David Gulick

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Feb 25, 2017, 4:58:57 PM2/25/17
to Richard Harris Podolsky, Maine birds
This is sad on lots of levels. Certainly not good for the owl; it will mean some great finds like this will be kept secret as in years past; and that means many fewer people will be able to experience certain very special birds. Personally I hesitated to go (and have not gone) so as not to add to the pressure on this specific bird.


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> On Feb 25, 2017, at 1:35 PM, Richard Harris Podolsky <richard...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Not any more. I was shocked by what I saw. Twenty empty cars on the road with every single person out in the interior of the exact field where the bird had been previously hunting.
>
> Bird harassers showed up chased the bird out of the center of the field and into the treeline at the margin. It can no longer forage unencumbered in the entire field or use any of the perches it was previously hunting from because thoughtless people are now occupying those very parts of the field.
>
> Common sense says to stay and observe from the road. Be patient. Let the bird reveal itself to you. Do not tramp over its hunting habitat and stand in the field. What are you thinking? The bird needs to feed and it relies upon the entire field for food.
>
> When you put yourself in the field you are trespassing on the bird and negatively impacting it. Secondarily, responsible birders with good intention and common sense can no longer see it from the road. Rather, they are forced to join the thoughtless throng in the field - which I refuse to to do. Tragedy of the Commons.
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Stuart Johnson

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Feb 27, 2017, 9:35:43 AM2/27/17
to Richard Harris Podolsky, Maine birds
Just imagine the sheer terror that owl felt when it saw people getting of their cars over 500 feet away, watching them march closer and closer. The poor owl frozen in fear as the "long lens" got to within inches of its beak. That owl, moments away from death from heart failure, pecking that "long lens" to see if it was eatable.

On Mon, Feb 27, 2017 at 6:15 AM, Richard Harris Podolsky <richard...@gmail.com> wrote:
I only went because it was so close to my home - 20 mins!  Plus I haven't seen a great grey in over 20 years. Generally the embarrassment and mortification I experience at rare bird stake-outs overwhelms any desire to see a rarity. I'd rather stay home and watch a nuthatch.

To the few birders staying on the road, out of the field or at least 300-500 feet away I applaud you. To the folks sticking their lenses in the owls face from 20-30 feet away, shame on you.

Yesterday I heard on good authority that "long lenses" were harassing the bird at times from 20-30 feet away! Imagine what that must look like to a creature with the visual accuity of an great grey owl?  I thought the whole point of huge lenses were to get shots from a distance.  Talk about overcompensation!  Who sticks a 600mm lenses in the face of a rare owl here in search of food??!  Who does that?  Well, now we know.

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Seth Davis

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Feb 27, 2017, 10:02:17 AM2/27/17
to Maine birds
Many people have reported this bird actively hunting/eating prey, so this tells me the bird is not distressed to the point of what many are so keen to call "harassment". I very much believe and abide by birding ethics, but to be honest people need to lighten up, standing in a field taking pictures (provided that field is not private property) is not harassment. How many times has the bird flushed as a result of photographers getting closer? I honestly don't know as I haven't gone and seen this one, but people running around saying that photographers are harassing the bird when A. it's still performing a life maintenance behaviors, B. not being flushed, and C. continuing to stay in the same location all indicate that this bird is not distressed. Again, lighten up and enjoy the bird. If you see someone acting inappropriately ask them to stop, but from all accounts that I have heard (and seen with the previous Great Gray in Milford) people are NOT harassing the bird. 

Scott Creamer

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Feb 27, 2017, 11:34:26 AM2/27/17
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Please go and enjoy the bird. I was there Saturday for a better part of the day. It seems to move in the neighborhood between the two sites. It seems very tolerant of people and other critters. In fact the only thing that got the owl to react at all was a hawk flyby. I did some reading on the species and they don't have much fear of people, simply because they hardly see them. One book I had noted a researcher caught one bare handed in the 1970's.  

A word of advice, I would respect the posted no trespassing signs. Some, like the Christmas Tree field have a phone number on  them to call, most specify no hunting or trapping. The cemetery field on Moody Mountain Road was not posted and looked like public or unprotected land. While I was there (at the cemetery) someone was target shooting for an hour or so quite close, 1/2 mile or so by the sound of it. ( 100 to 200 rounds ). I was told it was a rifle. I also noticed 4 deer carcass' in the graveyard field. I was told folks use them as bait to hunt coyote which are considered a local nuisance. At one point someone fired off two rounds close enough that we all flinched. So you don't want to accidentally wander into someone's makeshift target range. 

Of note, the owl did not seem to mind the shooting, the people, even the hunting dogs. Apparently people were hunting foxes with a few very vocal hound dogs. I saw the owl hunt, sleep, yawn, produce a pellet, preen for hours and was thrilled when it flew at us several times. Folks got within 100 to 150 feet of the bird and did not stress it. I had a similar experience with the Milford bird on Stud Mill road. Both were remarkably immune to the human presence there. Someone posted earlier photography guidelines and it had some good stuff and was worth the read. Know the bird, "read the room" and you'll be fine.

Good Luck!
-Scott
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Stuart Johnson

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Feb 27, 2017, 11:56:59 AM2/27/17
to Richard Harris Podolsky, Maine birds
If only the owl had wings.

On Mon, Feb 27, 2017 at 11:49 AM, Richard Harris Podolsky <richard...@gmail.com> wrote:

Let's all keep cool heads and not go down the low road.  We all love wildlife and bird and all agree that no one wants to bring harm.  

 

But the reality for these northern visitors is that they are here specifically in search of food.  Presumably because food is scarce at home or there is more competition from more owls having survived the warmer recent winters with low snow cover - or both may be operating.   Bottom line though is for these birds it is all about finding enough food to survive the winter and breed this spring.

 

The Code of Conduct posted for nature photographers are a great start but they don't integrate the huge literature that exists on safe buffer distances for birds.  I have written to author and offered to help with that. 

 

Three hundred feet is generally considered a MINIMUM distance to keep as a to allow birds like owls, shorebirds and waders the distance they need to keep a semblance of their natural behavior.  Birds at feeders should be given a minimum 100-foot buffer.  My own personal feeling is that it is best not to even enter the fields and habitats where the birds are feeding - even if you are honoring a 300-foot buffer from its current perch.  Best to stay on the road and leave the entire field to the bird to forage within as it sees fit.  Under the those conditions the bird may or may reveal itself to you.  But when it does it more exciting than tramping into the habitat on a stake out of the bird.

 

No one can easily say if this or any other bird is finding enough food to offset energetic expenses.  Even a bird without a throng of observers in its view can fail to find enough food and starve let alone a bird burdened with having to respond to human presence.

 

This isn’t being overly protective or an owl hugger.  When birds are kept from feeding by human intruders or the crows and ravens they may attract, it results in a double whammy;

 

a). they are feeding less, and

 

b). they are burning calories fleeing intruders.  

 

Flight is the most energetically expensive behavior birds do.  So, replacing foraging time with flying is a bad equation for birds – especially those birds like owls that may be right on the edge of starvation.  Don't you agree?  No lie, this could lead to starvation or in the bird realizing they cannot optimally forage and depart otherwise good habitat if not for humans.

 

Indeed, we are experiencing higher than normal mortality of owls this winter from starvation - especially barred owls and saw whets.  Even a few days of heavy snow cover can put owls at risk of not finding enough food to maintain.  My neighbor brought me a dead, emaciated adult saw whet she found during the blizzard.  I have heard that barred owls are also having trouble too. Call and ask Avian Haven if you don’t believe me.

 

Photographers need to be reminded that their awesome long lenses are for capturing images of birds IN THE WILD.  By relying upon their long lenses and blinds and being patient - photographers capture better action shots because the birds have sufficient room to behave naturally.  When you approach a bird to within a few feet you only get pictures of stressed bird starting blankly at you.

 

The upshot of entering owl hunting habitats and approaching closer than several hundred feet is that the birds may simply depart otherwise sustaining habitats or, they might fail to get the meals they need to survive the next snow storm.  Let’s stay all try to stay the right side of this issue and give these visiting birds even more than you think they might need.

 

Richard

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Scott Creamer

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Feb 27, 2017, 12:08:43 PM2/27/17
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We can simply agree to disagree, I did not take the low road at all. It was you who said anyone who got out of their car was a "bird harasser"  and should feel shame for being 299 feet away. If you lead with the well thought out post below you may not have gotten the replies that irked you. I was there for 7 hours Saturday. No one was feet away from the bird. The owl was not stressed. It was quite comfortable in its surroundings. The bird was not flushed once, period end of sentence. I appreciate the well thought out reply but disagree with the earlier assertion that 299 feet makes one a "bird harasser" who should be shamed. I know for a fact folks read your earlier posts and were scared off by your misinformation and scare tactics. I own both a camera and a spotting scope. Neither gives me moral superiority over another human being. 
-Scott

Julie A. Krasne, DVM

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Feb 27, 2017, 1:01:19 PM2/27/17
to Scott Creamer, Maine Birds List
Enough.  
Julie Krasne
Yarmouth, Maine

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