The 2017 Roost is finally here! Click on the cover to view the newsletter in its entirety! Hope you enjoy. :)
Explore.org came to the Owl Research Institute this week - joining us in the field to experience owl research first-hand, and to film this process in action. Courtney Johnson and Rick Ring, film and social media experts from explore, spent time at the Owl Research Institute field station and joined us for two full days on the Long-eared Owl project. They participated in every bit of the process - from driving the owls through the wooded draws, to holding and assessing the owls, collecting measurements, and banding. They captured great film footage and streamed video from the field. They even left us with an ipad so we can continue to film and stream on our own! A bit intimidating but very ex
Another live stream video from explore.org - Denver is able to share the research process with thousands of viewers from around the world.
Explore.org video footage of Denver releasing a Long-eared Owl after data collection and banding. Explore live streamed videos from the field onto their Instagram and Facebook pages - thousands of viewers tuned into watch! It is incredible what reach social media has - we were literally blown away!
For the past five years, the Owl Research Institute and explore.org, the world's leading philanthropic live nature cam network and documentary film channel, have been building a fantastic partnership. It is a partnership that brings you all the LiveCam coverage of Montana's Great Horned Owl, Great Gray Owl, Long-Eared Owl, and Charlo Osprey nests. These nest cams, which continue infrared footage throughout the night, have mesmerized viewers from around the world, and provide invaluable, never before seen views and sounds of nesting behavior and communication. The cams are incredible tools for education, conservation and research. We are thrilled to announce that Explore.org will be visiting
The Snowy Owls are here! Well, at least one Snowy Owl is here! The Owl Research Institute received report of a Snowy Owl spotted in Montana's Mission Valley on November 9th. The owl was seen in a ranchers field and believed to be a female. Although we have received reports of migrating Snowy Owls seen in British Columbia, this is the first local report of the year. Each year, the Owl Research Institute receives hundreds of tips and updates from locals, farmers and ranchers in the Mission Valley. This information is invaluable to our ability to understand and monitor all 15 owl species of western Montana. We are always appreciative of those who take time to share what they see and encourage y
The Owl Research Institute is honored to receive a grant award from the prestigious Charlotte Martin Foundation to begin a new project, Identifying Climate Change on Arctic Ecosystems in Barrow, Alaska as revealed through Snowy Owl to Lemming Population analysis. The Charlotte Martin Foundation, based out of Seattle, Washington, selects grant recipients from a highly competitive field. The Foundation seeks to "support the resilience of our vital ecosystems by promoting biodiversity and the protection of wildlife, especially in an era of changing climate," among other goals. Some of the application criteria were: Conservation efforts that utilize the impacts of climate change Engaging a commu
Help us raise funds for owl research, education and conservation!! Buy an awesome "I'm Looking Out for Owls" shirt or sweatshirt!! Please share this link with all your friends! Thank you for your support!! Hoot! Hoot! Purchase shirts HERE >>
We are proud to announce Owl Research Institute coverage in a recent book on birds. Jim Robbins, a noted science writer and frequent contributor to the New York Times Science, Audubon, Smithsonian, Scientific America, Vanity Fair, and The Sunday Times Magazine, among others, has published his fifth book: “The Wonder of Birds: What they Tell Us About Ourselves, the World, and a Better Future." In Chapter 17, The Transformational Power of Birds, Jim highlights the Owl Research Institute, and its founder Denver Holt. We are thrilled to be recognized by such an accomplished writer and mentioned in his newest and perhaps most influential book.
Yesterday morning, with the incredible help of Kim and Kim Koenig at Mission Valley Printing in Ronan, Montana, we made final edits to our 2017 Owl Research Institute Newsletter, The Roost! It is a huge project but, in seeing that final proof, always worth it! This year, The Roost is packed with project updates, species information, ORI news and happenings, T-Shirts for sale, and, of course, lots of beautiful owl photos! Above is a sneak peak of this years' Great Gray Owl cover! Once the newsletter is printed, the job of stuffing donation envelopes begins. In the past, this has been accomplished in a variety of ways (with Matt often taking the brunt of the job). This year, however, we have a
We've had several, recent inquiries about our 2017 Snowy Owl project in Barrow, Alaska: how it went, nesting numbers, etc, so I decide to post an update. For the first time in about 26 years, the Owl Research Institute didn't make it to Alaska for the summer. About a week before leaving for Barrow in June, Denver tore his right calf muscle while working on the Great Gray Owl Project. Matt was out of state with family commitments. And, because the vast, tundra landscape makes this project so physically demanding, we had to accept the fact that it just wasn't going to happen this summer. From the reports we've gotten, however, it sounds like it was a good summer to miss - very low, to no, nest
We are embarking on a 3-year collaborative study to monitor Short-eared Owl populations in the western U.S. This study, “Predicting Responses of Short-eared Owl Population Size, Distribution, and Habitat Use in a Changing Climate”, involves 15 other agencies and organizations across 8 states. This project, funded by a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is a rare example of cooperation and collaboration on a large scale. This species-specific monitoring program will provide the most robust population data for Short-eared Owls to date. The methods used for this large-scale monitoring study stem directly from a paper we published in 2016 titled, “Using Roadside Surveys to Detect Sho
