This a friendly request and reminder that we at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History are surveying for wintering Northern Harriers and Short-eared Owls in Chautauqua County, two state-listed raptors that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is tracking in Western New York. Fortunately they share habitat with other beautiful birds like the Snowy Owl and you may end up being in productive locations for them often in the next few months.
If you find any of the two species from now until spring please let us know with as much information on the sighting as possible – date, time, precise location, weather, behavior, number of individuals, age/sex, etc. The easiest way to do so is to enter the data into eBird (www.ebird.org) where it will be publicly accessible and stored forever in a safe, global database. Otherwise you can please email me directly at skruitbosch@rtpi.org with the information. Our thanks to everyone who is already doing so!
While I’m on the topic – please use eBird for all the birds you can wherever you live and whenever you bird! There are far too many sightings that slip through the cracks, even Snowy Owls, and will never be known to history if they are only left on a list serv email that goes into the internet vacuum, a list in the back of a desk, a phone conversation, and so on.
Scott Kruitbosch
Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
