Just a few thoughts on "Owling" at Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area....
For most of my life I was living a short distance from this marvelous area.
I saw many "life-birds" there, including Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier,
Eastern Meadowlark, and Long-eared and Saw-whet Owls. The owls (of course) were in
the little stand of pines along CH 71 and my best friend took me to see
these astoundingly wonderful birds for the first time. We found a Saw-whet
roosting low in one of the big White Pines and if I hadn't already been a rabid
bird watcher, I would have become one at first sight of this adorable bird.
Since that time, I have changed the lives of many people by taking them to
share in this experience. Some of these people have gone on to do much in the
way of conservation, including becoming an integral part of the Ohio
Division of Wildlife's volunteer Bald Eagle Nest Monitoring Team. I have taken so
many young people there, always with dramatic results. The area is such a
valuable tool for education.
That being said...I can see why Ben is concerned about all the foot traffic.
I too have felt a certain amount of guilt when I was there, and asked
myself if perhaps they should close the area to people and let the owls have some
peace. But here's what I ultimately decided.
The famous "Owl Grove" at Killdeer has been around for many years. So have
the owls. And so have the birders. The owls continue to use the area, and
one would almost have to assume that at least a percentage of these birds are
choosing to return there after being viewed by scores of birders the year
before. In some years the birds are scarce and birders wonder whether it's a
result of all the foot traffic into the pines the year before. These are just
personal thoughts...but I think it has less to do with human interaction and
more to do with population fluctuations, weather, and patterns of migration.
I'm not an expert, but I've studied the owls at Killdeer Plains very closely
during periods when there were large numbers of people in the area. On
several occasions I have arrived at the owl woods quite early and located birds
before anyone else had been back there. The birds were roosting low in the
pines (Saw-whets much lower than Long-eareds, sometimes less than 5 feet off the
ground) and as the foot traffic began and increased, the birds either stayed
put or simply moved higher into the trees. I have had the unfortunate
experience with a large noisy group coming into the area (I've actually led one of
them...ouch) and the birds would react in the same way. While I have seen
Long-eareds flush from their roost (only to fly a short distance away and perch
again) I have never seen a Saw-whet flushed from a tree by birders.
There are other roosting sites on the area. There is a stand of pines off of
TH 108, and on the few visits I've made back to these trees (it's some
distance off the road and tends to be pretty wet) there were owls there as well.
Several years ago (I'm guessing it was 7 or 8 years) I was involved in a
project developed by a Division of Wildlife employee to plant hundreds of pines in
four locations on the Killdeer Plains W/A. Two of the areas are on parts of
the refuge to offer roosting spots that have limited public access. The
trees were tiny and are only now beginning to look like potential roosting
spots. One of these areas can be seen from CH 68 just east of Washburn Road and
north of CH 119.
There is so much more to learn about the behavior of these beautiful and
mysterious birds. I'd hate to see people denied the opportunity to observe
these marvelous creatures. Experiences such as these can inspire people to look
deeper, to care more, to learn more. I'll just keep the faith that birders in
the area (and everywhere) will respect the birds' space and keep their
visits as unobtrusive as possible.
Thanks and good birding,
Kim Kaufman
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