BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Birding Barred Owl Debacle

Good afternoon, friends!

Have you seen the new article on the Birding page about the USFWS proposal to kill Barred Owls? You will find thought-provoking questions about this willful act, and perhaps a means to prevent or delay a deadly precedent in choosing one native species over another in the birding world.

And, to put this subject in a little perspective: please know that another subspecies of the Spotted Owl(the Mexican)has a currently peaceful co-existence with the Barred Owl in the southwestern United States and Mexico. The key to this compatible inter-relationship appears to be the amount of desirable habitat for the Spotted Owl.

Here's the link to the article -

Barred Owl

I agree with you. I'm not much of a fan of slaying of groups of animals. Nature tends to find a way to work around our efforts. It would be better if we preserved the habitat of the spotted owl ... in my opinion ...

Absolutely, Lisa!

And something I hope everyone keeps in mind- which is equally as important as the owls in question- is that the old-growth forest preferred by species like the Spotted Owl are rich with biological diversity that will be largely extinguished if these very old trees are logged out. We cannot grow back those plant and animal communities. Since the trees at question are older than the United States of America is as a nation, they and their resident biota and adjacent habitat are a national treasure as surely as prehistoric dinosaur sites or native American cliff dwellings and hieroglyphics. They are irreplaceable. They are deserving of protection for their own sake, as well as for the posterity of our children's children.

Hi Carrie,

Thanks for the critical (in more than one way!) thinking article on the proposed, government sanctioned "final solution" regarding the barred owl.

What effect do you think it would have on the spotted owl population, short and long-term, if the government adopted a naturalistic laissez-faire policy?

Alas, due to a myopic policy, those barred owls are really giving a new name to target birds!

Good question, Lance! Please allow me to back into the answer.

The Barred Owl is so closely related to the Spotted Owl that they breed with each other. Some of those hybrids have been confirmed to be fertile. Many of the hybrids cannot be visually distinguished from the Spotted Owl. They are impossible to fully extract from the population now, after decades of interbreeding. Genetics and time being what they are, and the relatively small closed (protected) environment being what it is, the Spotted Owl and Barred Owl will eventually become a hybrid species in the Pacific Northwest- even with the current BO killing proposal, or even with a vast expansion of it.

So, laissez-faire has already created a nightmare scenario that cannot be reversed unless ALL Barred Owls AND the hybrids are killed out of the ENTIRE Pacific Northwest, and the government continues killing the BOs who will immediately migrate in while the gunpowder is still hanging in the air.

It is tempting to opine that perhaps deeply secluded forest reserves that have been 'cleared' of Barred Owls and hybrids, and which contain only Spotted Owls, might be of benefit to preserving the species. But how realistic is that? Owls fly. And they fly under cover of darkness. And we cannot fence the sky.

Again, I would like to bring everyone's attention back to the forest ecology itself. Old-growth forest is a rare treasure all on its own. It stores vast amounts of carbon, and succors unique and complex biological communities that have still not been thoroughly explored and studied. It cannot be re-grown. And it is more than double the age of the USA. The current old growth was birthed during the exploration of the Spanish conquistadors.

Because of the Spotted Owl, logging of our national heritage forest has been largely halted. Let us re-assess that issue in a new framework- one that minimizes the importance of Spotted Owls, but recognizes and vaunts the old-growth as the irreplaceable treasure it is. Deserving of protection in its own right.

A great deal of usable forest had been set aside specifically for the Spotted owl (SO). Some of that timber is second growth that can be freed up and judiciously logged to provide income for an economically depressed population of our own people who have been hurting badly from this issue for the last 20 years. But we first must recognize the futility of continuing to use the Spotted Owl as the restraint necessary to protect our old-growth forest.

I want to see the Spotted Owl preserved as a species. I want to see our old-growth forest preserved for posterity. Killing Barred Owls will not do either one.

Great article, Carrie. I'm not a fan of killing off any animal species, nor the old growth trees that are a treasure to this country and should be left alone.

Thank you, Debbie. I agree.

It really pains me to think of killing birds and animals, and chopping down trees, too. Yet, I eat meat and eggs, and wear leather and build wood fires, write on notepads, use toilet paper, read books, and prefer hardwood floors and beautiful solid wood furniture. I have chopped down trees and hunted animals, and unwillingly been pressed into service at hog-killing time.

I really do understand that wildlife management very occasionally entails the judicious and selective killing of other wildlife (such as cowbirds who parasitize songbirds relentlessly into extinction), and the hunting allowances which are needed to create balances where we have disrupted the ecosystem (the white-tailed deer population explosion in the absence of cougars, for example; or the decimating of our forests which contracted the songbirds' habitats and increased the cowbirds' exponentially). But the key word in what I just wrote was "judicious"- which implies good sense, and good judgment, after the careful weighing and deliberating of the evidence. And none of that can be applied in this case of the Barred and Spotted Owls.

The Barred Owls are being convicted on circumstantial evidence and accordingly, appallingly being executed. And that is abhorrent to the nth degree.

I hope that elsewhere on the Bella website another editor will pick up the gauntlet about conservation of our heritage forests.

This is interesting.

Whenever something relatively close to me (physically) is about to happen, some "Sign" guide-post, whatever you want to call it, "MY STUFF," I just follow the signs!

Anyway, my first thought was, "What business is it of the gv. to decide what gets to live and what doesn't?" Nature is what nature does and does it pretty well, in my opinion.

I thought I'd bring a little life to the matter. Below are the enchanting vocalizations these lovely creatures make.

Of all the posts this one, made a B-line straight for me!

My husband and I have heard these outside our bedroom window. They sound like something out of a movie. Neither of us knew what they were. I thought they're owls of some type. Just never heard ones sounding like these.

Now we know:

Barred Owl Vocalizations

Short Video of Barred Owl

Video of the Barred Owl

I'm not a bird expert, but these are what we have in our forrest right now. And you're right about the older trees being a refuge. This is a reserve or supposed to be anyway

Nothing deserves "SYNTHETIC" extinction. I'll be P'd, if they come into this forrest and start taking them out!

Elleise.....thank you for the video link. What a beautiful and fascinating bird!

Oh! That's great!...Thank you so much for adding the "life", Elleise! I just love it...

Is your forest reserve in the Pacific Northwest? How blessed you are to be daily embraced by that "largeness" and ancient stillness and natural beauty. I deeply miss the forest every single day.

I had to and I'm glad it helped. It's really hard for me to see/visually, but I think when people can put a name to a face it becomes more personal

The forrest preserve we live in actually isn't anywhere near the Pacific Northwest. We're smack-dab in the middle of IL.

The preserve or reserve itself is quite old and is SUPPOSED to protect wildlife, deer and all. We still get poachers and each time I hear a shot, it really does make me sad and I'll usually wisper, "I'm so sorry for your loss. You will always be safe here."

They must have heard. Earlier this spring, a Doe, gave birth, just b past the guest house. We watched it take it's first stand and the mom cleaned her right up.

Bird-mites and all, I'll take wildlife any day! It's just too beautiful to destroy.