Estimates on the total number of spotted owls (Strix occidentalis) in Washington state are, like the bird itself, elusive, but spotted-owl study areas indicate the scope of their demise. In the three study areas in Washington actively monitored by state and federal agencies, spotted-owl populations have declined between 4.7 percent and 8.4 percent a year over the past 20 years. In one Cle Elum study area, of 77 historical spotted-owl territories only 11 were found occupied in 2015. Of those 11 sites, seven contained breeding pairs of owls, with just three breeding pairs spotted with young. In an Olympic Peninsula study area, the probability of finding a spotted owl in a range deemed a “known spotted-owl site” dropped 75 percent from 1995 to 2013. Ken Wiersema, president of the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society, says it’s been “several” years since any member of the society has seen or heard a spotted owl during the society’s annual bird census. “They’re still out there,” Wiersema says. “But there’s no question they’re in decline.”
Source: Seattle Weekly, June 14, 2016
http://www.seattleweekly.com/news/the-spotted-owl-is-in-peril-again-and…
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