When a Spotted or Sbarred owl (hybrid of Spotted and Barred) is heard, we make a follow-up visit to the area. A technique called mousing is used to find out whether or not the owl
has a mate or young; its' nesting status.
Sbarred Owl...
Has a blend of bars and spots on the chest like a Barred and Spotted Owl.
A melded look...
Mousing - A mouse is placed in plain site of the owl. In this case, on a long stick. The owl will either ignore the mouse, eat the mouse, or take it to a mate or nest.
It is possible that hybridization could add to the decline
of the Northern Spotted Owl. Especially in the long run
if Northern Spotted Owl populations continue to stay so low. Gotta keep the ol' gene pool clean.
...We're gonna have to go with nature on this one - we always knew it was OK to play with your food.
Stunning and wise. Both the moss-lichen covered tree and the Sbarred Owl.
This video discusses one of the Northern Spotted Owl's most controversial threats....Barred Owls; as well as loss of old growth forest and habitat.
Note: "Most Spotted Owls (90%) will be found in 200+ year old multi-layer forests
and few in less than 100-year-old forests"
Each night from a "boombox" 10 minutes worth of hooting is played at each pre-determinned survey station in hopes of calling-in the owls. The types of calls used include the classic 4-note and series, as well as contact calls (high pitched "shreeek", and barking calls (similar to crow calls). In an upcoming post, we'll show you the mousing procedure that takes place once a Spotted or Sbarred Owl (Hybrid of spotted and Barred) is detected.
Click to hear a Series and 4-Note call of a Spotted Owl.
You might be familiar with the explanation for a Barred Owl Call sounding like "Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all". Some of the Spotted Owl's calls are similar to those of Barred Owls, but in general they tend to be shorter, higher pitch, and lack the gurgley throat sounds which are oh so prevalent among Barred Owl Calls.
The same moose(s) -Did they just say mooses?- we worked with last summer in the Teton Wilderness. Scott, shown in the video, was the original University of Wyoming Grad Student to conduct the study which was then passed down to our boss for whom we worked. Our field season focused on what the video mentioned as "lack of quality nutrients". (See previous posts from last summer) Now do you understand the excitement of finding poo??
Welp, this is a video of the Mexican Grey Wolf Reintroduction Program. The video is exactly the work we did. Other duties included daily telemetry to triangulate wolf and den locations, aerial telemetry, scat collection and tracking. This video is a reminder for us of how amazing our colleagues and day to day activities truly were! Going into the pens to capture, handle, and prep a wolf for a release was one of our favorite things to do....However the act of releasing the wolf into the wild was even better....
Manaznita Coastline...
Nehalem Bay can be seen in the upper back portion of photo below the ridge line
Went and took a visit to Seaside for their aquarium and who could resist doing some crayon rubbings?
Pacific Harbor Seal Smile :)
The Seaside Aquarium was the first in the country to successfully breed Pacific Harbor Seals. Some of the seals are 3rd or 4th generation offspring
Wolf Eel! Can grow up to 6 -7 feet in length and weigh 40 pounds...this one was massive! Believe it or not; their temperament is quite mild,
but their face is one only a mother could love....
guess that makes us "mothers"
One neat aspect about the aquarium is that it features only animals found along the Pacific Coastline (Cali-Alaska). The Giant Pacific Octopus, for example, in the video above....
None of the seals have been trained. They have each acquired their own set of skills to attract the attention and fish of the visitors. This seal named Greta has her technique down pretty well....
From Birds of the Peruvian Amazon to Mexican Grey wolves to Moose of the Teton Wilderness to Adirondack Pine Martens to Coastal Oregon Spotted owls to NW Hawaiian Monk Seals.... What wildlife are we working with now and where in the world will we be in 6 months? We are often asking ourselves the same questions. So, in a grand effort to keep in touch, you have before you this site...which allows you and the masses to track us
