As a community, Birders are notorious for falling for "Just-so-stories" (i.e. there is no evidence to support this claim, but a lot of people believe it). The idea that a Snowy Owl is going to lose its hunting skills because a farmer is tossing it the occasional live mouse is a great example of a just-so story. If this were true a lot of raptor rehabilitators would be in trouble and never be able to release injured birds back to the wild.


When birds are brought in for rehabilitation they regularly interact with people. They're initially fed dead mice or chicken chicks.  Occasionally these are cut up and hand-fed to the bird to ensure that it has eaten and possibly received medications or vitamins. Once the bird has healed they're moved to a flight cage where they're eventually transitioned from dead food items to live food items that they catch on their own...and the rehabilitators are not there trying to teach the bird how to hunt. They instinctively know what to do.


Snowy Owls are interesting because they are raised on dead lemmings and other prey items that are stockpiled and surround the nest. They're use to getting dead prey as young birds. They eventually leave the nest and have to learn to hunt on their own. They can prey on a wide variety of prey species including Ptarmigan, Sea Ducks, lemmings and other rodents, and even fish. Each of these presents its own challenge so it's important that the owls have good instincts.


Additionally, the extra prey items that it receives without expending much effort should increase its chances for survival  while it's visiting this winter.


I think this is an opportunity, as a community, to make observations and see what happens.


To be clear there are legitimate concerns about feeding owls, but the main concern stems from people releasing live rodents too near roads which puts the owl near traffic and the risk of collision.  From what I've read that doesn't seem to be the case here.


Just my 2 cents,


Casey Tucker


________________________________
From: Ohio birds <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Brian <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2017 10:42 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [Ohio-birds] Holmes Co - Concern about Snowy Owl baiting

From the accounts I've read, it is becoming increasingly clear that the
Snowy Owl in Holmes County is probably continuing to be baited, despite
people warning the farmer about the harm it causes to the development of
the young owl's hunting skills. How should this be handled by the birding
community going forward?

Brian Tinker

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______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.


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