America's Only Captive Breeding Northern Spotted Owls Hatch
Chick at the High Desert Museum
Visitors can see the newborn chick nesting with its parents.
Second chick due by
Monday.
Owlets to help save this controversial threatened species.
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Bend, Ore. - A tiny, white, fluffy owlet was born to America's only northern spotted owls to have bred in captivity, Polka and Dot, today at about 4 p.m. at the High Desert Museum. The chicks will help in efforts to save this controversial threatened species.
Visitors can see the three-inch-long chick, which periodically
appears from beneath Dot in their nest inside a re-created
forest habitat. Visitors may also see Dot feeding pieces of
mice and chicks to the owlet. Polka is guarding them from a
perch a few feet above the nest. A video monitor aimed into the
nest allows visitors to get a bird's-eye view of this
fascinating and important development.
A second chick could likely hatch this weekend - typically the
second egg hatches within four days of the first egg.
"This is an exhilarating time at the Museum," said President
Janeanne A. Upp. "We are so proud to be the only facility in
North America to have northern spotted owls that have
successfully bred in captivity. That is a testament to the
thoughtful and careful stewardship of the Museum's wildlife
program."
"This goes to the heart of our mission of helping our visitors
connect to the wildlife and natural resources of the High
Desert, and become citizen stewards who can make a difference,"
she said.
Museum Wildlife Curator Nolan Harvey said, "The species is
close to extinction in British Columbia and overall, the
species in the Northwest is not doing well. A lot is going
against the survival of these birds. For a museum that is not
known for its wildlife collection to be a part of helping
ensure this species' survival speaks to the passion of our
dedicated and experienced staff of six."
The chicks may be released into the wild, or go to the Mountain
View Conservation and Breeding Centre near Fort Langley,
British Columbia, where they would be bred.
The Museum plans to give the chicks names only if they go on to
live in captivity.
The owls produced chicks at the Museum in 2003, 2004, and 2005
-- a testament to the quality of their habitat and care at the
Museum. Owls will not breed in captivity unless they are
healthy, happy, and secure in their surroundings.
The birth also is noteworthy because of the pair's advanced
age. They are each about 24 years old, and have not laid eggs
for the last two years. Spotted owls have been known to live as
long as 31 years in captivity, when they are well fed and cared
for, and protected from predators. They typically do not live
beyond 20 years in the wild.
For about the last month, the pair at the Museum's Donald M.
Kerr Birds of Prey Center, has been behaving as spotted owls
typically do when nesting. Dot has been constantly sitting on
the eggs, which are white and nearly identical to ordinary
chicken eggs. Polka has been guarding her, and bringing her
food -- mice and chicks.
Dot is nesting in a replica of a broken tree, called a snag,
with a nesting area built into it containing bark mulch. The
replicated forest area is enclosed in 12-foot high glass.
"We put other materials into the habitat for her to pick at,
but she seems to like bark mulch, and she laid her eggs, just
as in the past," said Museum Wildlife Curator Nolan Harvey.
In the past, Museum visitors were able to see Polka and Dot's
chicks for two weeks before the U.S. Forest Service relocated
the chicks to wild "foster" nests in southwestern Oregon.
Eric Forsman, research wildlife biologist for the forest
service's Pacific Northwest Research station in Corvallis, said
that it may be better to send the new chicks to the breeding
center in British Columbia, where they would be cared for in
captivity. The chicks would be bred, and their offspring would
be released in the wild.
If the chicks go to British Columbia, they may stay at the
Museum with their parents throughout the summer, he said.
Sending them to the Mountain View Conservation and Breeding
Centre would reduce the incidences of spotted owls being
captured in the wild in British Columbia for captive breeding
programs, Forsman said.
"In British Columbia, the (Northern spotted) owls are virtually
gone," he said. "There is just a handful of them left."
In Oregon and California, the Northern spotted owl population
has been declining more than 3 percent annually from 1990 to
2005, despite forest service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management
efforts to protect their habitat - old forests, Forsman
said.
The continued range expansion of the barred owl, which competes
with the spotted owl, forest fires, and logging on non-federal
lands are some of the factors contributing to the population
decline, he said.
Efforts to protect the northern spotted owl habitats culminated
with the Northwest Forest Plan in 1994, he said. The plan's
mission is to adopt coordinated management direction for the
lands administered by the forest service and the BLM.
"Ultimately, spotted owls are just a symbol of a much larger
issue," Forsman said. "They are kind of the poster child for
old forests and the conflict over how to manage federal
forests. Spotted owls are such a charismatic species that
people can relate to, and the laws to protect them have made
spotted owls one of the most high-profile species in forest
management on the West Coast."
For details visit www.highdesertmuseum.org
or call (541) 382-4754.
