Holt to talk owls at Audubon meeting
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POLSON — “The Population Decline of Long-eared Owls in Western Montana” by Denver Holt will be the next Mission Mountain Audubon program on Thursday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. in the Polson Library meeting room. Everyone is welcome.
Twenty-eight years of research on long-eared owls in western Montana show a clear, downward population trend. Reasons for the decline of this secretive owl remain speculative, but likely factors include habitat change and loss. More alarming still, there are only about 6,000 long-eared owls in the United States. If this estimate is correct, then the long-eared owl population is similar to the number of flammulated and spotted owls — both of which have federal and state protections. Today, the long-eared owl remains unprotected.
Holt has been studying owls in the field since the late 1970s. In 1989, Denver founded the Owl Research Institute, a privately funded, non-profit organization dedicated to research on owls and small mammals (their prey). Simply put, Denver Holt is one of the foremost owl experts in the world.
