Owls

Owls. They're cute, they're smart, and they're in-style.

Ahem, uh...your talons are showing...

So you think YOU like owls? Trust me, there will always somebody who likes owls more...

Hoo says you get wiser with age?

But why are people so fond of these wise old birds? It can't possibly be because of their diets, as owls are raptors, and are responsible for ridding the world of all things cute and fuzzy. From kangaroo rats, to jerboas, to little baby bunnies.

How could anyone eat the likes of me? I'm the cutest parts of all the animals put into one tiny package!

But, but, there'll be no more EASTER!

We imagine, as we watch them rip off tiny fuzzy bunny heads and swallow them whole, that there's got to be something more to these ferocious creatures.

Well, for one, owls are just plain cool. One of the largest owl species, the Great Grey Owl, has a wingspan of up to 5 feet. Yet they sneak right upon their prey (most of who have exellent hearing, I might add) completely silently.

Along with being one of the largest owl species, this owl may quite possibly have the fuzziest of all feet. 

And who could resist the upside-down head of a burrowing owl?

Burrowing owls live in underground dens which often once belonged to badgers or rabbits. With a little digging and renovation, they make perfect homes in which to raise a line of upside-down headed young.

And then there's the pygmy owl. Enough said.

Did you know a group of owls is called a Parliament?

Artwork © 2010, Scott Gustafson

My falconer friend Shawn owns a Great Horned Owl of his own. Contrary to popular folklore, his owl is not a harbinger of death.

I am a harbinger of cuddles

Since ancient times, people have owned owls. Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom, war, and the night, had a Little Owl. Accompanying her on her shoulder, the owl revealed unseen truths to her, and had the ability to light up Athena's blind side, enabling her to speak the whole truth, as opposed to only a half truth.

Hey Athena, wanna know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop? ©2004 Thalia Took

Unfortunately, this picture of a baby barn owl could ruin the owl's image for everyone.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...alien devil baby!

And this owlet recently discovered in the Andean mountains of Peru is also a bit scary.

Lady Gaga told me it was okay cuz I was born this way. She also did my hair.

But for the most part, owls do receive the recognition they deserve for their beauty and splendor.

There's even a butterfly that wants to be an owl. Appropriately named the Owl Butterfly, this dainty devil scares off predators by by flaunting its owl-like wings. I saw many of these beauties when visiting tropical countries like Costa Rica, Belize and Brazil.

Upon compilation of these facts, we can conclude that being human is tough. Everyone should just be an owl.

The truth about owls

Bird Conservation with ornithologist Cagan Sekercioglu

I recently attended a talk about the Future of Bird Conservation with University of Utah ornithologist Cagan Sekercioglu. In this talk he outlined the threats of our current lifestyle to bird populations, as well as the necessary steps that need to be put into place to reverse these threats.

Cagan (pronounced "Shawn")is a conservation ecologist, ornithologist, tropical biologist, and nature photographer. He has conducted ornithological fieldwork in Alaska, Angola, Colorado, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Turkey and Uganda to investigate the ecological factors behind the extinction-proneness of certain groups of birds. Read the rest of his bio and about his current projects here.

Cagan began his talk by stressing that biology only goes so far in saving the world's endangered birds. More interest needs to be paid to the field of Environmental Law, as this is where and how the important decisions are made about the environment. Environmental lawyers have social and media training, which is important in educating the public about conservation issues. Public education is quickly becoming the most crucial step in the future of conservation.

So why birds? For Cagan, birds are an ideal model to study because they are well known, they look pretty, and people like them. They are the most well-known of all studied species. They also play important roles in the environment as seed dispersers, pollinators, and insect control agents.

The most threatened bird groups are the scavengers, piscivores, nectarivores, berbivores, and frugivores. Cagan painted an informative picture of how the disappearance of a single bird species can have drastic effects on an environment - effects that most people may not even realize. He used the Indian Vulture as an example. Indian Vultures (native to India) are functionally extinct, which means that, though they have not disappeared completely, there are so few individuals that they no longer play an ecological role in the environment. The Indian Vulture population has dwindled because of the high amounts of antibiotics and medicines that farmers inject into their cattle. The vultures, which feed upon cow carcasses, ingest the medicines and are poisoned. The feral dogs of India have increased immensely to fill in the scavenger gap, and with this, human rabies deaths have also increased immensely. This has cost the Indian economy billions of dollars in labor loss due to sickness and deaths among workers (an estimation rests at 32 billion US dollars). So, in this case, it pays to save birds.

Cagan described the impact of climate change on the world's bird populations. An estimate that has been reached by a number of different research by different people, including Cagan and his research team, has been set at about a 30% loss of all land-bird species by the year 2100. He explained that warming has already happened at an unnatural rate and that we need to focus now on keeping it from escalating even more.

The last thing he talked about was agricultural landscapes, and how they are expanding. Unfortunately, farming and agriculture has been the biggest factor in habitat destruction. But there are ways, as he described, of incorporating agricultural land into a sustainable lifestyle. For example, just the simple act of leaving a few tall trees throughout a pastureland can have positive effects on bird populations. Tanagers have been shown to make use of even a few widely-spaced trees in their movement patterns. I've mentioned in previous blogs how coffee farmers can benefit from biodiversity in their farms. By planting a series of trees instead of a single coffee plant, the coffee plant receives shade from the other trees and the local wildlife can still use the area for living and nesting. Local people benefit greatly from conservation education. Ecotourism has become a great solution to many of the destructive habits of becoming "civilized". We all have the means to live sustainably, and if we can all reach this way of life, we can save what's left of our amazing planet.

Meeting Animal Planet's Jeff Corwin

One of my longtime wildlife heroes, Jeff Corwin, decided to stop in Utah on his "Tales from the Field" tour. And, of course, I was there.

Jeff is a conservationist who, much like me, became interested in his work after being introduced to the rainforest of Belize during the summer of 1984. My own craziness began after a trip to the Costa Rican jungle in the summer of 2000. I grew up watching Nature programs on PBS (because we didn't have cable or many other forms of entertainment) and crying when the hyenas killed the cheetah babies. But i didn't realize I could actually do something about wildlife until I was in college and took a rainforest ecology and conservation class. Shortly after the class, I applied for a grant to take a rainforest ecology field class in Costa Rica through the Organization for Tropical Studies at Duke University. I was awarded the scholarship and as soon as I stepped foot in that jungle, I felt I was home.


Jeff continued his interest in protecting the threatened rainforests of Central and South America throughout college. He established the Emerald Canopy Rainforest Foundation, a grass-roots organization dedicated to protecting rain forests through educational outreach and habitat conservation, and worked on nature expiditions in Belize. His TV career began during this time and has spiraled ever since. He hosted and produced The Jeff Corwin Experience on Animal Planet.



Jeff has bachelor of science degrees in biology and anthropology from Bridgewater State College, and a master of science degree in wildlife and fisheries conservation from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In 1999, Bridgewater State College honored Jeff with a doctorate in public education for his work in communicating about the need for a sustainable approach to using natural resources and the importance of conserving endangered species. Jeff firmly believes that through education and awareness, the natural resources, wildlife and ecosystems that make up our planet will be conserved for future generations.

When I was in college I got a job at the Discovery Channel Store, where I discovered Jeff Corwin and fell in love with his work. Our goals are very similar, and I admired the importance he saw in educating the public about issues regarding endangered wildlife and habitat. Plus he's hilarious. So I was really excited to meet him on his "Tales from the Field" tour. I was a bit disappointed that he didn't talk more about his personal experiences. With a name like "Tales from the Field" this is what I expected. Instead he focused on the young audience members and educating them about different animals, bringing various animals on stage to interact with them and describe them. These animals included and American Alligator, giant Boa, a Great-Horned Owl, Kinkajou, Armadillo and Grey Fox. The owl was finicky around men and gave him two giant evil eyes the whole time he was on stage. He stressed the importance of conservation and not keeping wild animals as pets.





After the show he talked a little bit about his experiences during the Q&A. He explained the cutest animal he'd ever seen was the mouse opossum he ran into in the jungle. I also ran into a mouse opposum while working in Belize and also deemed it as the cutest animal I'd ever seen. He claimed the gila monster as his favorite animal, and mosquitos as his least favorite. He was once trapped in a tent all night with 300 of them. I was tempted to tell him it couldn't have been half as bad as my all-nighter in a tent with 300 sandflies. I woke up with a swollen red face (the mosquito netting did nuuuuuthing). His worst animal experience might have been when he got bit by a coral snake and almost died, or perhaps when being charged by a bull-elephant and left behind (with the amped-up elephant) after his camera crew jumped in the car and took off. I could say that my worst animal experience was when I picked up a giant toad and it peed on me, or when two mating bats dropped their load on me as I walked under them in a classroom in Costa Rica while learning about reproduction (these bats happened to be randomly in the classroom, and randomly mating).

While attempting to make conversation with Jeff and get his autograph, I was so worked up and nervous that all I could muster up was my name. But I did ask him for a photograph (apparently. I don't remember much of this blacked-out experience). Suffice it to say, I hope that some day I do get an opportunity to talk with Jeff and share experiences.


To read more about my jungle experiences, check out previous blogs.

Urban Art Show for Charity a success!

So the Urban Art Show I put on to benefit the Southwest Wildlife Foundation was a success. So far we've brought in over $500 for SWF in art sales and donations.

Here are some photos that highlight the show. Art will be hanging in the UAA Main Street Gallery in downtown Salt Lake City until March 11, 2012. Thank you to everyone who helped me make this event a success. I couldn't have done it without you, honestly!

Photos courtesy of myself, Lena Nance, Kelsey Beacco, Alexey Krapivin, Jeremy Pearson and Kristian Christiansen.

Compassionate Traveling: SustainableTrip.org

I ran across this website, SustainableTrip.org, quite a few months ago and was impressed with it. I get monthly email updates from them that make me want to jump out of my office chair and hop on the next plane to South America. Their photos bring back fond memories of jungle cabins and tropical adventures; of rain so hard it rendered umbrellas useless, and of heat so sweltering it rendered sleep useless. This may not sound appetizing to you, but if you've ever been to the tropics and fell in love with it like I did, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

SustainableTrip.org is a website that features destinations or businesses in Latin America and the Caribbean that are making outstanding efforts to conserve natural resources and improve livelihoods in their local community. Whether its a hacienda 9,600 feet above sea level in Ecuador, a bed and breakfast lodge smack in the middle of Amazonia, or a tourism company that leads jungle expeditions, these businesses are certified by the Rainforest Alliance and are sure to show you a good time.

Here are just a few examples that make those ferrocious travel bugs bite:

Ecoventura yachts - Galapagos Network (Ecuador)


Ecoventura's yachts take you to the Galapagos (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) in style. They offer a total of 38 rooms on 4 boats, each with luscious ammenities and breakfast included. Activities include dive boats, kayaking, snorkeling, photography, and bird-watching, as well as intimate guided visits to shore while treading lightly on the environment.

These guys are certified in sustainability, and have made many adjustments in order to pollute less and have less of an impact on the environment. They are carbon-neutral and their carbon emissions are offset by a variety of projects in other parts of the world. They have helped establish the Galapagos Marine Biodiversity Fund in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund, to support environmental education and marine conservation. They also proudly participate in the Pack for a Purpose program, where guests can bring school supplies, medical supplies, and other small items from home to donate to the local community. Guests simply drop off their donation with the staff, and Ecoventura will deliver it for them.

Selva Verde Lodge and Rainforest Preserve (Costa Rica)


Selva Verde Lodge & Rainforest Reserve is home to possibly the largest almendro tree in all of Central America. This enormous tree provides food and habitat for the endangered great green macaw. The lodge offers daily guided hikes with local nature guides in the reserve, and on the grounds of the lodge there are self-guided trails and botanical gardens for visitors to explore. The Sarapiquí River flows right through the property and offers swimming and whitewater rafting on class I-V rapids.

The lodge is located next to La Selva research station (where I myself spent a week or more when I was in Costa Rica doing research), and visitors can visit and learn about the various research happening there while taking guided tours on the property. I can tell you firsthand how many tropical frogs you will see while you're walking there, including red-eyed treefrogs (they're everywhere!) and the popular poison dart species like the tiny blue and red "blue jean" frog. There was also a resident coati (begging for bananas), sloth, and iguana on the premises. Other nearby attractions to the lodge include the Braulio Carrillo National Park, Heliconia Island, Tirimbina Rainforest Reserve, pineapple and banana plantation Tours, canopy zipline tours, and a serpentarium.


Today the center is a fully independent nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a sustainable future for the people of Sarapiquí and is focused on four main areas --environmental education, community development, conservation, and tourism -- in order to help form future environmental leaders, raise the organizational capacity of local communities, promote sustainable land use, and connect tourists to the local community.

Bodhi Surf School (Costa Rica)



Located in the beautiful town of Uvita-Bahía Ballena on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, this surf school offers personalized surf and yoga lessons that help connect individuals with nature and increase environmental and social awareness. The surf school focuses on inner awareness through yoga and on social justice through community work, and also incorporates conservation into its business practices. Uvita-Bahía Ballena is part of Ballena Marine National Park, one of Costa Rica’s many nature reserves. This park includes several kilometers of undeveloped coastline where visitors can see some of Costa Rica’s famed wildlife.

Porta Hotel Del Lago (Guatemala)



Framed by three majestic volcanoes, and beside beautiful Lake Atitlan, this hotel puts the visitor smack in the midst of local community life. Small businesses harboring local merchannts, artisans and weavers are active in this little town, and boats come and go from the lake's harbor. The public beach and recreational area is not far away and houses the San Buenaventura butterfly garden, whose trails lead to waterfalls and historic churches.

Activities which the visitor can take part in from this hotel are numerous, and include horseback riding, canopy tours, bike-riding, river rafting, scuba diving, visits to conservation projects, volunteer activities, and lake tours. This hotel si certified sustainable from the Great Green Deals program, because it supports many local businesses and provides jobs for local community members. Its local habitat tours educate visitors on the importance of the natural wilderness of the country.


Sustainable businesses are those that are profitable while conserving natural resources and benefitting local communities. Examples of sustainable business practices include conserving water and energy, supporting community conservation projects, recycling and treating wastes, hiring staff from neighboring towns, paying them just wages and providing additional training, and, sourcing locally-produced products in restaurants and gift shops. Why not support the conservation of local habitat and wildlife while you travel, so that these beautiful people and places can stay around for future generations to enjoy.