It’s January 7 in Maine. Winds were blowing out of the west at about 15-20mph. I was standing on East Point in Biddeford Pool. I should have been cold. I wasn’t – I was removing layers, and it was still only about 9:30am. But, it was a bit chilly today – only 20 degrees above normal, compared to yesterday’s obscene 35 degrees above normal – setting a new all-time record high for January of 67 degrees. The previous high for the date was eclipsed at 7:00am!!! This is ridiculous.

Dabbling ducks on ponds, lingering Bluebirds, few birds at feeders. I SHOULD have been, and would greatly have welcomed being, freezing my butt off this morning, looking for alcids, white-winged gulls, and seaducks. But this winter, or lack thereof, birding has been, well, odd (to say the least).

Today’s outing to Biddeford Pool didn’t produce any particularly rare species. About 30-40 Horned Grebes were off of Vine’s Landing. A raft of 22 Red-necked Grebes were asleep off of Ocean Ave. No alcids other than a few Black Guillemots, thanks to the westerly wind, but there were a few adult Northern Gannets offshore. A long walk around the neighborhood produced suprisingly little.

However, I did have a record high count of BIRDERS for the area. I had to look around and check my calendar to make sure that I was not in Evergreen Cemetery in May! I saw at least 9 birders, and heard from, or of, at least 7 more who were in the area today. This amount of birding activity was great to see. For one thing, it’s just nice to see people out. Secondly, the more birders that are out and about, the more “good” birds that can be found. Biddeford Pool was well covered today, indeed.

One of the reasons that there were so many birders around was that there have been a couple of very good birds seen in the area of late, such as a Yellow-breasted Chat and a Dickcissel (neither were seen today by me, or anyone else that I talked to). However, while not a true rarity per se, the real star of the show was a Great Horned Owl that has been hanging out for a week in the area.

This morning, two birders and a photographer were present when I arrived, and others soon followed. While Great Horned Owls are much more common than we think in Maine, they are rarely seen. More often they are only heard, calling at dusk. When you do get a chance to see one during the day, it is a real treat. When one owl, of any flavor, is being seen almost every day it’ll attract attention.

Herein lies the problem. Every birder, and definitely myself included, loves seeing owls. However, owls are very susceptible to disturbance. As with most predators, they are always on the brink – the energy budget is tight; if it fails to catch enough food, it doesn’t survive. A sparrow doesn’t have to worry about catching seeds, but a Sharp-shinned Hawk has to then catch the sparrow. Owls, since they hunt at night, need to catch their z’s during the day. If dawn came, and they were unsuccessful in the previous night’s hunting, they need to conserve every precious calorie to have the energy to hunt the next night (an oversimplification for sake of argument).

Now, there’s no way of knowing how close one particular owl may be to perishing. But, why take the chance? I don’t want to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Do you? But, it never fails – but a bunch of people (birders, photographers, random passerbys) near an owl and someone will feel the urge to push the envelope and keep getting a little bit closer.

When I arrived today, there were three people standing a respectable distance from the owl, enjoying it, and not disturbing it. I joined them, and from around 75-100 feet away (just off of the road), we marveled at a Great Horned Owl – sitting on the ground, under a marsh-edge bush. Eyes closed, just waiting for the sun to make it around the corner of the house. I shot this picture through my scope.

Don’t need to get any closer than that – can’t in fact if I wanted to fit it in the field of view. Still in the shadows, I returned a short time later to get photos in the full sun, and was horrified to see a photographer a mere three or so feet away!

I called to him, and to his credit, he immediately backed off, and retreated back to the road edge. This behavior is just uncalled for – there’s always a desire to get “a little closer” but we need to think about ALWAYS putting the bird first.

See, with a roosting owl – as I mentioned earlier – that is trying to conserve energy, any disturbance can be problematic. However, its easy to believe that we are not disturbing them – especially when they tolerate a close approach with nothing more than a wink or two. However, with little doubt this bird’s heart rate increased – at the very least – and that stress burns those precious calories.

Often, as with the case today, there are no apparent adverse effects. When the photographer backed off, the bird stayed where it was, and once again closed its eyes. No harm, no foul. But, what if that close approach caused it to flush? What if that flying owl attracted the attention of crows – as often happens – and isn’t able to rest for quite some time. Or, even worse, what if this bird was already nearing the brink, and nothing more than a simple increase in heart rate pushes it over the edge? We may never know, but let’s hope this is simply just one very relaxed bird!

Sitting still while the photographer approached - no matter how much the heart rate was increased – was still less costly in calories than flying away. Therefore, this bird – like many other owls – just continued to sit still. This can easily be mistaken for tolerance – when in fact the bird is only waiting till the last possible minute to take the chances wrought by flushing (crows, hawks, etc). Therefore, you push closer . . . and closer . . . and closer.

To this photographer’s credit, after I explained this to him, he apologized, seemed sincere in his regrets of approaching to closely, and even said he would mention what he learned to others. If that’s true, and a very positive outcome would come of this. For the most part, people – birders and non – don’t always realize the potential problems that they can cause. In this case, it seems a little education did the trick. Unfortunately, what happens when the next person comes who doesn’t know this? Or worse, when the occasional person simply doesn’t care; when the closer look or better pic is the only thing they care about – to hell with the bird’s well-being.

I certainly didn’t think the gentleman today thought this way, but we know some do. Most birders have horror stories about birders, or all-too-often photographers, getting “too close” even when they know better. Snowy Owls get flushed all the time by birders and photographers mistaking their tolerance for apathy. In fact, they’re likely only conserving energy – desperately trying to make it in a tough world. Great Gray Owls in Maine are repeatedly harassed – and I could share more than a few stories about this.

On a personal note, I find myself in a bit of a quandary. For example, today, I was enjoying this Great Horned Owl; a truly magnificent bird that was providing unmatched viewing opportunities. Immediately, I wanted to share this unique opportunity with everyone – every birder I ran into today, every jogger, every tourist, every resident. I wanted to call Jeannette at the store and tell her to get this online – this is a great opportunity, and one that is too good to miss!

Then, I think about what the consequences could be for this bird. While the cat is indeed out of the bag already – birders know where to go for this bird - I don’t want to be heaping more straws on this camel’s back. But, I know that I will always think twice about sharing sightings of susceptible and vulnerable birds, such as roosting owls. After hearing anecdotes from last year’s Great Gray Owl, I have sworn to never again post directions to a roosting owl (unless it’s behind a fence at the Jetport or on an inaccessible offshore island for example) on the Southcoastal Maine Rare Bird Alert for example. It’s a tough call for me, but when it comes down to it, the well-being of the bird needs to come first.

Besides, why do you need to get any closer than this (taken a little later through the scope at about 100 feet away)!