UPDATES ON STARR RANCH!!

Admin Posts : 234 Join date : 2011-05-18 Age : 68

I will try and Reach Pete at Starr Ranch today and see if I can get Offical word on the happenings over there.
If you want to talk about it please do so in here and not in your regular chat rooms.. It is very uspetting what is going on there and
the rooms are not wanting to deal with this in their open rooms, where they are watching and monitoring their own owls..

Feel free to talk in here at anytime.. Comments are welcome, but be respectful of the position Pete and the others are in at Starr Ranch.. We know he wants to do what is best all around for the mother Mrs. Owl and The babies..

I will update as soon as I get word.. Please try to be patient..

Lady Laura
Admin

Posts : 1 Join date : 2012-01-23

Hi - hard to know where exactly to go from main page of this 'forum' for conversation / comments about current starr ranch owl family .... which link is best?

Admin Posts : 234 Join date : 2011-05-18 Age : 68

YOUR IN THE RIGHT PLACE ALICE AND WELCOME !

LadyLaura

Posts : 2 Join date : 2011-08-05

LadyLaura wrote:: YOUR IN THE RIGHT PLACE ALICE AND WELCOME !

LadyLaura

Hi Lady Laura, Thanks for what you are doing. I was watching last night, having gone to see if Mr O might have returned, when I saw #6 apparently killed and one of the siblings trying to eat it. When I reported this on Mel &
Syd chat, was told not to and to keep it light. That is unrealistic.
The people who say they won't support Starr Ranch are just pathetic - they need support in every way even more at this difficult time. The O's nest is apparently difficult to reach and it is amazing there is even one camera there. If
you can't stand the truth of nature, don't watch. It was a most distressing sight to see and will haunt me, but
no less than the death of 2 of Molly's 2nd clutch and several of Dale's last one, especially Boonie's, which was terribly sad, as it was like we had come to know him. #6 was probably not going to survive anyway, it was just such a gruesome death to have to see- I couldn't believe my eyes. It wasn't even #1 doing it.

Appreciate you keeping us up to date and tell Pete he has much support out here.
Thanks, Hootie18

Admin Posts : 234 Join date : 2011-05-18 Age : 68

Thanks for you comment Hootie and I am glad we can talk here away from the events that we see. Lots of emotions are running high and yes Death is something we deal with in the chance of watching nature. When I spoke to Pete this morning it was a situation I doubt any of us would want to be in. I know he is working hard and as fast as possible to find a good place where the babies can grow up and be owls and not just some rehab.

They need to learn skills to survive in the wild and not thrust out there and not stand a chance to survive. That is the wish of all of us I am sure.
As for the Chat rooms yes they would not want this subject to bring down the events happening in their own boxes. They are watching for life to be created not dealing with Death in the wake of that..

We do have to respect that of all the boxes and the owners and Mods since they have no words that can help either..

I do know Kanga would want the best for the family and he as all of us are trusting in Pete to know what that solution is.

Laura

Guest

Laura thank you so much for these updates. I have been watching Mr. and Mrs. O for weeks. When I tuned in to see a big chick eating a tiny one alive it was heartbreaking. At this point I am assuming that all the little ones will suffer the same grisly fate. Would cheers

Mrs. O be able to supply enough for 2 or 3 big chicks and herself by herself? And be able to teach them to hunt by herself? Thanks again.

Posts : 2 Join date : 2011-08-05

alice_a wrote:: Hi - hard to know where exactly to go from main page of this 'forum' for conversation / comments about current starr ranch owl family .... which link is best?

I agree- where to go?
Hootie18

Admin Posts : 234 Join date : 2011-05-18 Age : 68

For Starr Ranch Comments your in the right place .....

Posts : 1 Join date : 2012-01-23

Thank you for the information, it is greatly appreciated. I hadn't watched Starr Ranch in a couple of years because I know that it is difficult for wildlife. I tuned in this year and I am so sorry about the situation. I donate to a local wildlife center called Hawk Creek. They have been instrumental in trying to bring back the barn owl to this part of NY. The owlets are raised by foster owl parents. So it is really sad to see this brood. I wouldn't second guess Starr Ranch...

LadyLaura wrote:: I will try and Reach Pete at Starr Ranch today and see if I can get Offical word on the happenings over there.
If you want to talk about it please do so in here and not in your regular chat rooms.. It is very uspetting what is going on there and
the rooms are not wanting to deal with this in their open rooms, where they are watching and monitoring their own owls..

Feel free to talk in here at anytime.. Comments are welcome, but be respectful of the position Pete and the others are in at Starr Ranch.. We know he wants to do what is best all around for the mother Mrs. Owl and The babies..

I will update as soon as I get word.. Please try to be patient..

Lady Laura
Admin

Guest

well lets hope I can post now - tried to register 3 times!
Wondering if laura ever got hold of Pete. What is he going to do about remaining chicks? Is he going to add food?
There should he a good rehab at his ranch - it is huge - if not I am sure he knows a good place to take them. Rather see that happening then another lost little one - like last night!

Admin Posts : 234 Join date : 2011-05-18 Age : 68

Audubon Starr Ranch Barn Owls

For those who have contacted the Serrano Animal and Bird Hospital/OC Bird of Prey Center please know that Starr Ranch has had a relationship with them and other professional raptor biologists for more than 20 years where together we’re doing as much as we can for raptors and raptor habitat protection. Here’s what SA+BH has to say about the current situation and I agree with their assessment:

“At present, we [Starr Ranch] are trying to provide adequate food for the remaining parent to feed the babies (not an easy feat since the nest is not readily accessible and the weather has been rough here) while field biologists are searching for nests with similar aged babies to foster. Hopefully, some of the babies will survive long enough to be transferred into an appropriate nest and fledge normally with foster parents. Removing and hand rearing the babies is not a viable option, since the babies will most likely become permanently imprinted (socialized to people) and non-releasable. They would then have to be found legal and proper housing for the rest of their lives (which can be more than 1 or 2 decades).”

I, along with several other field biologists, have already been working very hard to find another BNOW nest where some if not all of these chicks can be fostered. However, keep in mind that if we are fortunate to find a nest it cannot be one that already has a full clutch of even 4 – adding 4-5 more chicks to that would place the survival of all chicks in jeopardy.

I would like to ask that we all try to confine our comments to observations and that opinions and chat about what should be done be held. I think you all know by now that I don’t censor many comments at all on this site and I’m reluctant to start. As long as comments are respectful of others and contribute to our knowledge and understanding of these BNOWs, they’ll be allowed.

Last, the supplemental food I’ve provided these last two nights is something I’m extremely reluctant to do, notwithstanding it’s not that easy to do. Those who have been watching for the last few years know that I have said numerous times that I would not intervene – the only difference between this nest and ten’s of thousands of other nests is that we get to watch. And in this case we’re seeing what can happen when things don’t go as smoothly as we would like them to; the key word here is “we”. BNOWs and all other wildlife routinely deal with these kinds of scenarios and get though them just fine – even when death is part of the equation. I would also add that there’s a distinction between intervention and interaction. When I clean a lens, band the chicks, etc. I’m interacting with them in a way that is known to be nothing more than a short change in their routine that has no lasting affect on their overall behavior. Intervention, such as supplemental feeding, changes the outcome of their lives and affects not only them but other BNOWs and wildlife in the area. Please take a moment to consider that the death of an individual chick, and adult, or an entire clutch just might be what’s supposed to happen as part of the bigger picture.

Thanks you all for your comments, even when at times we might not agree. And those choosing to support us, an additional thanks. I’m really trying to do the best I can. Pete

Admin Posts : 234 Join date : 2011-05-18 Age : 68

Posted at The Starr Ranch Site::

02/06/12 A note on the Male BNOW: In what I would describe as almost an impossibility or at least up against astronomical odds (and I think most biologists would agree) last Friday, 2/3/12, the male BNOW was found dead by Sandy’s field crew 0.6 miles north of the cavity in the corner of a grassland next to a small oak canyon. He was completely intact and appeared to have been dead for 2 or 3 days. Yet he’s been gone for approximately 2 weeks. What was he doing/what was happening to him during this time? A quick examine indicated no broken bones and no usual signs of starvation, such as diminished breast muscle causing a prominent keel. However, he is in the freezer and perhaps Dr. Scott Weldy from the OC Bird of Prey Ctr/Serrano Animal and Bird Hospital might be able to determine cause of death through some tests and necropsy. I believe it may be possible to test for anticoagulants that might have been picked up should the male have eaten a poisoned rodent (Note – no pesticides or herbicides are used anywhere on Starr Ranch but we are close by areas that do). It’s also possible that it might have been West Nile Virus, but I’ve been told that this is difficult to test for after the bird has been dead for as long as he was. Also, it just might have been old age. The Bird Banding Lab record for the oldest wild BNOW is 15 with 2nd and 3rd “place” belonging to BNOWs btw 12-13. This male was banded in 2006 at at least 3 yrs of age so he was 9 and could have easily been older. Bottom line is the male is confirmed dead and at this point from unknown cause(s)

Admin Posts : 234 Join date : 2011-05-18 Age : 68

A note on Fostering. The search continues for another cavity to foster some if not all of these chicks. Others and I have not given up, but this effort is very time consuming and often requires travel to remote areas that in some cases are now even less accessible because of road damage caused by flooding in Dec 2010. Nonetheless, we will press on. But I feel the need to raise something in hopes that it will better prepare you if we should be fortunate enough to find an appropriate foster nest. If we do the chances are greatest that the smallest chick(s) will be fostered. This means they will be removed from this cavity and you will not see them again. But more important it means they will have been given a much greater chance at survival than they have now. The supplemental feeding will continue, but as I’ve mentioned numerous times chicks require supplemental feeding by the adults for weeks after they fledge and it isn’t a given that continuing to put food in the cavity will get used at this point. Pete

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