Wisconsin Native Species Coalition

Welcome to the Wisconsin Native Species Coalition, where we try to make a difference in the amount of real estate that is gobbled up each year in the name of progress. This site's primary mission is to promote an appreciation of nature, and all things wild. It also just happens to be one of the main on-ramps to the finest copper art sprinklers in the universe.
These photographs were taken out the studio window, with a small digital camera connected to the computer, and mounted on a custom fabricated steel plate to align it behind a 25 power spotting scope. You can't believe the trouble it was to focus and the time it took to get these pictures. Today I have a 24 power digital video camera that would make it much easier. But these grand birds haven't been back, so I was lucky to get these pictures when I did. If you'd like to use these pictures in a class project, or would just like to know more about them, send me an email.
I hope you will help preserve the natural areas we have, instead of building on every last piece of real estate until there's none left. It's alarming the amount of farm land and rural areas that have been built on in the last 40 years. In another 40 years, our grandchildren will be wondering just what the country and those wild things looked like that Grandma and Grandpa used to talk about. Maybe some day the Wisconsin Native Species Coalition will make a difference.
In the meantime, please visit these nature related links and help them however you can.
Gathering Waters Conservancy | Wisconsin Wildlife Federation.

The Barred Owl's name comes from the horizontal barring of the upper feathers and the vertical of the lower.	For everything you want to know about owls, visit OwlPages.com Click pictures to enlarge.	Owl looks like he's sleeping. 17" high head to tail, 44" wingspan.	Natural Resources Defense Council Sierra Club Books. Take a Hike!
Redtail Hawks get rehabilitated at The Feather	Henry David Thoreau Ralph Waldo Emerson Aldo Leopold Foundation	Canada Rye The Future of Life	Plant a historic tree! NationalWildlifeFederation
Cup Plant Wild Ones Plants	Owl is Hooting Field guide at enature.com	Great Horned Owls! Learn more at OwlPages.com	The Nature Conservancy

NOTICE
Nature lovers are welcome to copy these images for their own not-for-profit, private purposes. They may not be transferred for the purpose of subsequent for-profit use or for publication, except non-profit educational institutions may do so as long as you acknowledge the source, and provide a link to this site. These images are available in unedited, uncompressed, higher resolution, and can be acquired for minimal cost for commercial use.
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We've had many requests from schools to use these pictures in their class projects. And in Feb. 2005, Sheila Turner Hane of the Oregon State University, Oregon Cooperative Fisheries and Wildlife Research Unit used our owl pictures for the background of a scientific poster on spotted-barred owl hybridization to be presented at the OR Wildlife Society conference in February 2005. She worked on the Central Cascades Spotted Owl Demography project, one of several long-term monitoring projects that monitor the success of the Northwest Forest Plan. Barred owls have moved into Oregon and their population is rapidly increasing. They're seeing a wave of hybridization between barred owls and spotted owls, which is the main subject of the poster.
Update Jan. 19. 2006 - Feds Want Independent to Head Owl Recovery
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Some time before1914, Chas. L. Jordan wrote that he observed a 'horned' owl alight on the same limb as a turkey hen, between the turkey and the trunk. The owl would sidle near the turkey and call in a low voice "Who, Who." The turkey not liking the nearness of the owl would reply, "Quit, Quit," and move farther out on the limb. After a few moments the owl would repeat the action, and continue until the turkey reached the end of the limb and had to fly, and then the owl would catch her. He said he also saw horned owls push chickens from the roost and catch them on the wing. I don't know if barred owls will do that, just thought you'd enjoy the story of the horned owl.