The Watershed Center Wildlife Crew is a HOOT!

Written by: Megan Killeen

Jackie Perry, Wildlife Program Manager, sat with me for an interview about her work surveying for spotted owls and other raptors in the forested mountains of Trinity County. Having started her career at the Watershed Center in 2019, she has witnessed the program grow from four people to fourteen technicians slated to begin their 2024 season this spring.

So, what does a typical day look like? An average week?

The goal is always to maximize the amount of survey time completed per work day. We start a little bit later in the day so that we can chase sunset when the owls are most active. We gather around my computer to track the survey route on our maps, gear up, and drive out.

During the day, we begin with Activity Centers (ACs), which are historical nest sites that are stored in the existing database indefinitely. The rationale is: “If owls have nested here before, they’ll probably come back. Right? Maybe?” It’s important to confirm or deny the presence of owls and so we typically hike two to four hours with our little “boom box” (call box) hooting out to any owls that might be nearby. We scan the habitat, make observations, and utilize past data and current conditions to inform our route. Some of these ACs have been around since the 1970s and the USFS wants us to survey all of them. So we do!

The rest of the work day consists of night routes. These are more efficient because we’re covering more ground, hooting into the night between the ACs at predetermined call points usually spaced out a quarter- or half-mile apart. You move on if you don’t hear anything, but if you do hear a response, you return the next day to try and locate the owl you heard in the night. If owls are found, we begin mousing–that is, offering mice to the owls and observing their behavior once the mouse has been accepted.

Owls are out foraging at night, covering more ground. Since the ultimate goal is to find nests and reproductivity, twilight and pre-dawn are the best times to check into potential nesting sites as the owls are most likely to be home then. Morning surveys are sometimes required, but night surveys work best for most human schedules. That, and nights tend to be cooler, which helps us avoid exhausting or overheating the owls.

I keep the Forest Service biologists updated via email and we’ll survey within a certain radius of a project to ensure owls haven’t moved in during project implementation, but we’re really just forever chasing an amorphous blob of moving owls across various distances, trying to maximize the likelihood of detection and make sure they aren’t negatively impacted.

What is the most challenging aspect of the job?

Oh, boy. The long nights can be pretty challenging for some people. Some days you have to go down in some horrible draw and haul yourself back out, but you generally come back with a sense of accomplishment. For me, managing fourteen people is a logistical challenge. The projects range all across the county, from one end to the other, so managing over such a large spread adds to the difficulty. But despite the obstacles and day-to-day changes, we get a lot done. It’s pretty astonishing at times.

[Note: Trinity County encompasses 2 million acres, which is larger than the state of Delaware.]

What kinds of unique wildlife encounters have you had?

My first year hooting we had a mountain lion call back to us! It was sudden and close by. Eerie. We quickly hustled back to the truck after that. Turkeys have called back to us. I know Raina [one of Jackie’s technicians] has had some cool bear encounters. Every now and then you’ll see a fisher scamper across the road! Pileated woodpeckers are pretty prevalent and fun to watch. A barred owl once flew in silently thinking we were a spotted owl. I’m not sure what its intention was, whether to beat us up or mate with us since there’s been both a struggle for resources and some hybridizing between the birds. But it flew away when it realized we weren’t a spotted owl!

Can you describe a moment of creative problem-solving in the field?

Sometimes the younger owls don’t know what the white mice are! Finding ways to show them that the mice are edible and their next lunch is fun and interesting. We use a big stick to lift the mice up, and since they’re lab mice they don’t have a real fear response. They just stay where they are. People ask us if we skewer or hang the mice somehow, but we offer them up, alive, on a long stick, holding them far away from our bodies. Sometimes we use the stick to place the mouse high up in a tree, then hide so as not to spook the young owls. If the mouse is accepted, we follow to see if they have a mate or offspring.

These are silent birds, so learning to look up in the right trees to count fledgling has been a great brain exercise. It’s also cute to watch the owls fall asleep if they’re disinterested in the food we’ve brought.

Anything having to do with being out on FS roads at night, staying awake and energized, requires you and one other person to work together. I had one technician convince the crew to do pushups after every call station, for example. A lot of our work is preventative search and rescue (PSAR). If something goes awry, like a flat tire, it’s just you and your partner in the field in the middle of the night. Staying out of those situations in the first place is a major safety goal. With good planning and communication, our surveys are smooth.

What significance do spotted owls hold for you?

I think raptors in general are one of those charismatic species that people can easily connect to. I think for me personally, I started my wildlife career interacting with these birds and the Watershed Center is where I’ve helped this program grow. It’s been a very cool experience. They are a specialized species, relying on shrinking old growth, and are all the more deserving of protection so that they can continue to live their unique lives in these special pockets of ecologically important and significant habitat.

What is the most rewarding element of your work?

Locating and micing owls allows me the opportunity to know each pair of birds, visiting year after year. Protecting the stand where their nest lies, helping safeguard against negative impacts from wildfire, logging, or other disturbances, is what it’s all about. A recent wildfire came close to owls that I knew from previous surveys. It burned their core home range, but luckily the owls survived. They were on the edge of the boundary, and they’ve since moved to another gorgeous stand to hopefully produce and raise more young. It really brings out the empathy. We hear about these huge, stand-replacing fires and think about the people we know who are living through it. For me, this feeling doesn’t just extend to people, but to the wildlife that call these forests home. Being a force of protection and conservation for these birds is the best part of the job.

How would you summarize the need and impact of your program?

That’s sort of tricky because we mostly work with the Forest Service in support of their projects and, technically speaking, they’re not obligated to complete these surveys. They have the option to assume occupancy within each project, but then won’t begin implementation of a given project until September, after mating season. Between timber harvest, wildfire salvage, and fuel breaks, our efforts at surveying allow them to more effectively complete priority projects. I think being able to confirm or deny occupancy is a much better, more efficient way to manage these public lands.

Applying for federal jobs and maintaining seasonal employees can be really difficult. Since we’re an outfit that is all geared up and ready to go, we can help the USFS get more work done as partners. And we’re local people doing local work. We’re lucky to have such a great, supportive working relationship with the Forest Service.

What is the best memory you have of this job so far?

That’s a hard one. Any time I get to hang out with an owl is fun. How can I decide? There are so many moments to choose from! I just find this job so special. We get to spend time with a species that is threatened and that has a divisive local history as the symbol of the Timber Wars.

Wildlife Technician Raina Bolton offers a mouse to a Spotted Owl.

The owl that dive-bombed Raina during mousing is super memorable. She was halfway through pulling the mouse out of the carrying tube when it swooped down and shocked all of us. The owls found us, is really what happened. We didn’t find them, and they were probably following us the whole time, but that’s okay!

Seeing chicks brings such a triumphant high, like . . . ‘They did it! A successful mated pair made another generation of owls!’ It’s the best feeling. One of the nesting pairs we visited last summer had two or three chicks, so locating a successful nest is always a big memory. Every bit of habitat conservation leading to new owls thriving in their home is just so, so worth it.

Hiring for the 2024 season has been completed, but the wildlife team has been growing year over year for the last half decade. If you or someone you know is interested or qualified in this work, send your resume (don’t forget to rename the file to include your name!) and three professional references to NatRes@thewatershedcenter.com with “Wildlife Crew Hiring” in the subject line.