The Owl Eye Spring 2016

30 Years of Owl Research shows Species
on the Decline
By Melynda Harrison 8:04 p.m. MST January 27, 2016
MISSOULA — Denver Holt of the Owl Research Institute (ORI) pulls his Suburban over to the side
of a snow-packed dirt road outside of Missoula. He and researcher, Matt Larson, and volunteer, Andrea
Darling, hop out of the rig and step carefully over a barbed wire fence. They have the landowner’s permission
to poke around in the adjacent large willow thicket to look for owls.
Larson and Darling flank the thicket, eyes keen for camouflaged birds. To a casual observer, there doesn’t
seem to be anything alive in these woods, but a pole topped with a camera mount proves that owls
have been here.
The webcam belongs to Explore.org and is trained on last year’s long-eared owl nest. Holt worked
with the Annenberg Foundation to bring six fluffy owlets and their parents to the computer screens
of hundreds of thousands of people. The owl cam will go live again in March when owls will be raising
chicks.
On this 15-degree day, the sky is socked-in with the inversion layer Missoula is famous for. Despite the
white on white land and sky, and the willow thicket-colored birds, the owl folks spot several long-eared
owls. They are not yet in the nesting phase, but they are present.
Holt fell into owl research while working on a wildlife degree at The University of Montana. A friend
found an owl nest north of the university in the Rattlesnake area. Holt and another friend started
keeping an eye on the nest.
30
(Photo: Courtesy of Henry
Harrison)
Denver Holt holds onto a long-eared owl. Holt
started the Owl Research Institute and became an
independent researcher in part because of his strong
belief in the importance of field work and long-term
studies. (Photo: Courtesy of Melynda Harrison)