The great gray ghost of Washington

A five foot span of feathers glides silently between amber trunks of ponderosa pine within the Columbia Highlands.  The great gray owl, or great gray ghost as it is sometimes called, is mostly a boreal species, found in only a few of the lower 48 states.  In Washington, the Columbia Highlands is one of two places where these mysterious birds nest.

At 27” from head to tail, North America’s tallest owl could serve as a poster child for the Columbia Highlands Initiative, because our balanced plan for this area--including establishing wilderness, connecting habitat and protecting roadless areas, forest restoration, and keeping large ranches intact--is a recipe for improving habitat for this iconic species.

Outside of the breeding season, great gray owls are winter nomads requiring large connected tracks of land. Listening to the ground for the sounds of voles up to a foot below the surface of the snow, great gray owls need open understories where they can spread their human-sized wingspan and float silently, perch to perch, uninhibited by small scraggly trees like the ones that we recommend removing from unhealthy forest stands. These open stands not only make the sun-loving pine and fir grow taller and stronger, but the sunlight moving more freely to the ground encourages a thicker layer of grasses and wildflowers to nourish a healthier prey base for the owl.

During periods of bitterly cold weather and heavy snow, these spirit-like birds move down-slope out of the forest and often show up on adjacent pastures and ranch lands where they hunt post-to-post in pursuit of pocket gophers and other rodents.

During the nesting season, great gray owls look for older forests with broken-top trees and snags, the former serving as nest sites and the latter allowing their young to avoid predation.

Great gray owlets jump or fall from nests placed high in broken top-trees, witch’s brooms, or old raptor nests.  After bouncing upon the ground, they have between one and three vulnerable weeks before they fly. Downed branches, snags and leaning trees give them progressively more challenging and elevated perches that protect the fledglings from predators like foxes, or coyotes.

When Conservation Northwest began its efforts to bring protection to Columbia Highlands, we envisioned benefiting all of the mammals who require connected habitat to guarantee resilient populations far into the future; but like many conservation efforts, the beneficiaries extend far beyond the targeted species, including one of North America’s most impressive birds, the Great gray owl.

[Learn more about Paul's work and iconic birds at his site, paulbannick.com]

All photos: Paul Bannick, paulbannick.com