Great Gray Skowhegan

[Robin R Robinson]

A Great Gray owl has been reported and photographed in Skowhegan on the Facebook group page, MAINE Birds. Link below

https://www.facebook.com/groups/MAINEBirds/permalink/1198115910270509/#

Robin R Robinson

rrrobin...@hotmail.com

207 522 7630

http://robinrobinsonmaine.com

[cathie...@gmail.com]

I checked and this facebook post seems to have been removed. Hope the owl is ok and that people are behaving well around it.

[Robin R Robinson]

The FB group member chose to take down the post in order to protect the bird. He has numerous, fabulous photographs. He has been encouraged to post this sighting on eBird. RRR

Robin R Robinson

rrrobin...@hotmail.com

207 522 7630

http://robinrobinsonmaine.com

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Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2017 12:53:42 -0800
From: cathie...@gmail.com
To: maine...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Maine-birds] Re: Great Gray Skowhegan

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[Leslie Starr]

The owl should definitely be eBirded, but it it's eBirded as usual, the report will be accessible to the public. The checklist should be hidden or postponed until it is certain that the owl is no longer present.

Leslie Starr

[Bob Duchesne]

My own view: It’s a good time to practice the ABA Code of Ethics. http://listing.aba.org/ethics/. Northern owls often stick around, and this one probably will. Word of such locations often leak out, and this one probably will. Excited birders should respect the bird and local property owners above the possibility of a life lister. First, do no harm.

 

Bob Duchesne

 

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[Susan Guare]

There was a Great Gray Owl in Western Massachusetts back in the 1980s.  The local Audubon had to take shifts guarding the bird from people who were making noise trying to make it turn its head and other foolishness that threatened the bird's survival.  That was my very first experience with birding idiocy.

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[Aletha Boyle]

About 8 or 9 years ago there was a Great Gray in North Belgrade about a mile from where I live.  Birders were all very respectful to the property owners and kept their distance.  The bird stuck around for about 2 weeks as I recall, but may have been there awhile before anyone noticed it.  

On Sunday, January 15, 2017 at 2:54:22 PM UTC-5, Robin Robinson wrote:

[Julia Hanauer-Milne]

Unfortunately, I witnessed people in Belgrade behaving like the ones Susan described in Massachusetts. People were making noise trying to attract the bird's attention all for a good photo.  I remember a thread on the birdlist about another great gray that died in the midcoast. People were still trying to take photos even as rescuers were attempting to save it. I know most birders aren't like this, but I do worry about the impact we have on these birds who may already be stressed by winter conditions.

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[Aletha Boyle]

Wow, I missed that!  Had I witnessed it they would have gotten an earful from me!  

[Bill Carpenter]

I brought my 90 year old mother to see the Belgrade owl. It was the high point of her life. We stood under the tree with a few other quiet admirers. Nobody acted out. It was enough just to observe its otherworldly presence.The owl was in its own space and seemed quite unperturbed.

Bill Carpenter

[Linda Scotland]

We need to remember that an owl that doesn't fly off when people are around is having serious problems. Most often, it is starving and very ill and any disturbance is making it worse.  Owls often remain still in periods of cold to conserve energy. When people disturb an owl in this condition, even moving its head can use the last of its energy. Snowy owls seem to be ok with people but other species are not. Please don't post locations of owls you find in the winter.

Linda Scotland

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[Sean Smith]

 

The Great Gray Owl in Milford ME in Jan-Feb 2006 was definitely harassed to death by birders who wanted the “photo of a lifetime”.   Its ordeal was fully documented on the birdlist.    Hopefully this new owl is able to remain relatively undisturbed.

 

Sean Smith

[Sean Hatch]

Harassed to death? That makes me sick to my stomach. And sad. I have never seen one. Would love too. To me the birds always have the right of way and deserve so. We are ALL on there land after all.

[Bill Hancock]

Before too much more angst is expressed about the presumed stress the Skowhegan Great Grey Owl might feel from a comparatively few people looking at it with telescopic optics, it might be worthwhile to consider this bird in perspective. The worldwide population of this species is estimated at 190,000 individuals with 90,000 of them in North America (Partners in Flight, 2013). Happily, its conservation status is as a "species of least concern," and its numbers are considered to be increasing. By no means am I suggesting that this excuses birders from acting with respect when viewing this bird, but presuming it is any more fragile or precious than any other stakeout bird--much less issuing blanket condemnations of the birding community--hardly seems warranted. A couple of times each winter a Great Grey Owl turns up in Maine to the delight of a few people who get to see it. For some of those people it will be a bird they won't forget, and the experience might even generate more votes for conservation. Why not share this opportunity? Goodness, literally hundreds of Snowy Owls are legally shot at airports across North America every winter and we are worrying about a single Great Grey Owl turning its head to look at us?

 

Bill Hancock,

Gray

[Rafael Adams]

Thank you for posting this response.  

[Fyn Kynd]

Exactly my thoughts Bill, people should be able to see this great rare bird. The majority of the people who will go to view this owl will not harass it. 

Good birding,
Fyn 

[Peter Vickery]

How about everyone who does go agrees to go agrees to leave their cameras at home or in the vehicle?  Just enjoy really looking at the bird.  Is that really feathering on those impossibly long legs, and where are those legs anyway?

I know we'll all miss hundreds of Natl Geo quality pics but this could be a great way for the photographers among us, certainly me as well, to demonstrate that we can be responsible around owls, not always an easy task given how charismatic they are.  Just a thought.  Best, Peter 

[Andrew Block]

I agree Bill.  Great post.

Andrew

On Monday, January 16, 2017 at 5:46:31 PM UTC-5, Bill wrote:

[Sharon F.]

Excellent suggestion by Peter!  Sharon in West K.

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From: maine...@googlegroups.com <maine...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Peter Vickery <cresce...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2017 11:03 AM
To: Fyn Kynd; Maine birds

Subject: Re: [Maine-birds] Re: Great Gray Skowhegan

[Sean Hatch]

I would love to see this owl. I have met many on the birding trail in Maine since i started birding 7 years ago and never once have I thought anyone to be disrespectful to the birds. But that's just me.

[Sean Smith]

As I think Derek pointed out at the time when the 2006 Great Gray Owl met its fate, owls hunt by hearing, but that thought doesn’t seem to enter a lot of owl spectators’ minds.  The first things I noticed when arriving at Milford to see the 2006 GGO were:

 

1. Over a dozen birders standing around excitedly gabbing to each other in loud voices about 100 feet from the owl while waiting to take pictures of it, as if they were in line at a rock concert.   There was a loud, constant stream of chatter.   How would anyone expect it to be able to hear prey?   Or did they even care?
2. Some people standing WAY too close to the bird for the selfish reason of getting ultra- close photos, instead of observing it from a respectful distance.
3. A dog barking loudly inside someone’s vehicle and you could see the owl was bothered because of its movements & expression whenever the dog barked.

 

I don’t think any Great Gray Owl that ends up in Maine is expendable for peoples’ entertainment.   I know the majority of birders would behave themselves but it only takes a couple of morons to stress the owl, which by its nature won’t do what other species would consider the sensible thing by taking off and hiding from them.

 

 

Sean Smith

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[Jeff Wells]

Perhaps interesting also to consider the contrast from many decades ago when most records of irruptive northern owls came from tallies of the number that arrived at taxidermists after being shot.

 

Jeff Wells

[Scott Cronenweth]

An observation, birding friends: Many owls and diurnal raptors hunt successfully in the midst of highway noise and urban racket. Snowy Owls can hear the scuttling of mice in faraway bow traps over the roar of nearby jet engines, as Norm Smith has routinely observed at Logan Airport. (We just don’t know how the heck that’s possible!)

If all it took was a decibel clash of wind noise over open ground, or the excited chatter of birders or Blue Jays, to blot out an owl’s hunting-hearing, they probably would’ve have flown silently across the past however-many million years.

Peace & happy ethical owl-viewing,

Scott Cronenweth

Farmington, ME

scottcr...@icloud.com

[Sean Smith]

With respect to Scott, who responded to my post, his assertions are opinion and not science-based and they do not disprove the many incidences of owls who starved to death while being bothered by human observers.     I distinctly recall specific documentations and long conversations about  these incidents on the bird list during the past 10 years (and interestingly, Great Gray Owl was the only species I remember these incidents happening to) but I don’t have access to those archives.   Maybe someone else does?  Good birding,