A2
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2019
Half mystery, half magic: In search of great gray owls
A photographer
fi nds his passion
By IAN McCLUSKEY
Oregon Public Broadcasting
It’s dawn. The rising
sun is just starting to break
through the boughs of pon-
derosa pine, gleaming on the
frosty grass of a small forest
meadow in c entral Oregon.
Woodpeckers drill, “Rrr-
rrt-rrrrrt-rrrrrt.”
Doves
coo. But Ken Shults
keeps his ears piqued for
only one bird call: a low,
“Whooooo-whooooo.”
He tips back his felt
fedora, cupping his hand to
shade his eyes as he squints.
He scans for any sign
of motion against the dap-
pled backdrop of boughs,
Ken Shults
pine needles, sunlight and
shadow — a fl itter of a The rings of feathers around the owl’s eyes scoop in sound like radar dishes.
feather, a slow twist of two
think these birds are made name, stri x nebulosa, speaks or obscure. So in short: half
intense yellow eyes.
Today he returns to a of half magic and half mys- to this mysterious qual- magic, half mystery.
place he has been coming tery,” Shults says. “They can ity. Stritx, the genus name,
They’ve also been nick-
week after week, month disappear into a forest like comes from ancient folk- named the “phantoms of the
after month, year after year. they were made of smoke.”
lore. These were magical north” because they live in
Armed with tripod, cam-
Great gray owls are so birds, sometimes associated the cold northern forests of
era and zoom lens, he is on elusive that they’ve been with witches, and bearing Europe, Alaska and Canada.
a search to fi nd one of the nicknamed “the ghosts of ill omen. The species name In the U.S., they may appear
most elusive birds in Amer- the forest.”
nebulosa comes from the in the northern Rockies,
ica: the great gray owl. “I
Even their scientifi c latin meaning misty, foggy Cascades and Sierras.
FIVE-DAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA
TONIGHT
FRIDAY
44
35
Cloudy and chilly with a
bit of rain
Mostly cloudy with
showers around; chilly
Mostly cloudy; chilly with
a few showers
Chance of a little rain in
the afternoon
ALMANAC
REGIONAL WEATHER
Shown is tomorrow's weather. Temperatures are tonight's lows and tomorrow's highs.
ASTORIA
38/48
Tillamook
40/49
Salem
37/50
Newport
39/49
Sunset tonight ........................... 5:39 p.m.
Sunrise Friday ............................. 7:19 a.m.
Moonrise today ........................ 12:26 p.m.
Moonset today ............................ 2:56 a.m.
New
Feb 26
Coos Bay
41/50
First
Mar 6
Source: Jim Todd, OMSI
TOMORROW'S TIDES
Astoria / Port Docks
Time
2:45 a.m.
4:21 p.m.
Low
3.8 ft.
0.3 ft.
City
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Denver
Des Moines
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Honolulu
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Memphis
Miami
Nashville
New Orleans
New York
Oklahoma City
Philadelphia
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Francisco
Seattle
Washington, DC
Hi
64
40
44
52
35
41
75
3
75
49
47
56
62
64
77
63
72
44
69
48
59
50
57
42
54
Ontario
36/47
Burns
25/35
Klamath Falls
25/35
Lakeview
24/33
Ashland
34/44
REGIONAL CITIES
City
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Eugene
Ilwaco
Klamath Falls
Medford
Newberg
Newport
North Bend
Hi
41
40
49
46
43
42
48
43
46
48
Today
Lo
31
27
38
37
40
25
34
38
39
39
W
sh
i
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
Hi
40
41
46
49
48
35
46
48
49
51
Fri.
Lo
20
23
38
37
39
23
34
37
38
38
W
sn
sn
r
sh
r
sn
r
sh
r
r
City
Olympia
Pendleton
Portland
Roseburg
Salem
Seaside
Spokane
Springfi eld
Vancouver
Yakima
Hi
39
35
42
48
44
43
33
47
42
33
Today
Lo
35
29
37
38
37
40
28
38
39
23
W
r
sn
r
r
r
r
sn
r
r
sn
Hi
45
42
49
47
50
49
34
49
48
35
Fri.
Lo
32
26
37
38
37
38
25
37
37
21
W
sh
c
sh
r
sh
r
sf
sh
sh
c
TOMORROW'S NATIONAL WEATHER
NATIONAL CITIES
Today
Lo
48
33
11
24
2
28
59
-19
65
24
14
44
49
48
65
49
60
39
31
38
20
37
46
36
47
Baker
31/40
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Tonight's Sky: Mars low above the southwest hori-
zon. Will remain evening object through August 2019.
High
8.9 ft.
7.0 ft.
La Grande
33/41
Roseburg
38/47
Brookings
37/46
Mar 14
John Day
33/40
Bend
27/41
Medford
34/46
UNDER THE SKY
Time
8:46 a.m.
10:52 p.m.
Prineville
27/44
Lebanon
38/49
Eugene
37/49
SUN AND MOON
Last
Pendleton
29/42
The Dalles
29/37
Portland
37/49
Precipitation
Wednesday ....................................... 0.11"
Month to date ................................... 4.78"
Normal month to date ....................... 3.48"
Year to date ...................................... 9.71"
Normal year to date ........................ 13.68"
Feb 19
MONDAY
46
31
Astoria through Wednesday.
Temperatures
High/low ....................................... 46°/36°
Normal high/low ........................... 52°/37°
Record high ............................ 64° in 2017
Record low ............................. 21° in 1949
Full
SUNDAY
46
33
38
A little rain early; mostly
cloudy
SATURDAY
48
37
W
pc
s
c
pc
c
c
pc
s
sh
c
c
r
r
c
pc
c
c
pc
pc
pc
c
sh
r
r
pc
Hi
63
52
24
53
12
32
71
0
78
32
18
60
57
54
81
51
75
55
40
58
27
47
55
46
63
Fri.
Lo
55
33
14
26
5
17
47
-7
64
21
9
41
45
32
63
35
64
35
22
33
16
29
46
35
38
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
W
c
sh
c
pc
sn
c
c
s
pc
pc
sn
pc
sh
r
pc
sh
c
c
c
c
sn
r
sh
sh
c
Although they are not
federally listed as endan-
gered, fi nding one is a rare
occurrence. Great gray owls
move silently through a for-
est and will quietly perch,
rarely drawing attention to
themselves. Cloaked in dap-
pled feathers, they blend
almost invisibly into trees.
Unlike many birds, they usu-
ally won’t fl ush when some-
one walks by but will remain
motionless.
Wildlife biologists have
learned that owls are highly
territorial and that if they
play the call of an owl in
their territory, most owls will
hoot back. Great gray owls,
however, will often ignore
such calls.
After fi ve years of search-
ing, Shults has probably
seen fewer than a dozen, he
estimates.
He has discovered only
one nest.
“It’s a big bird, but a much
bigger forest,” he says, then
heads to another meadow.
Finding great gray owls
requires intense focus.
“So part of the trick is to
train your brain to not see
the tree,” explains Shults.
“You’re looking for every-
thing that’s not tree.”
A soaked Rainier assesses fl ood damage
By CHLOE SKAAR
The Daily News
RAINIER — Rainier
Mayor Jerry Cole said the
city is “putting things back
together” after declaring a
state of emergency Tues-
day in response to down-
town fl ooding caused by
Fox Creek.
The creek, which enters
the city from the hills above
downtown, backed up where
it enters a culvert at C Street.
Water poured across C Street
and fl owed downhill before
rejoining the creek just west
of the Grocery Outlet store,
located between B and A
streets.
The parking lot of Ark
Real Estate, on B Street, was
fl ooded until late Tuesday
afternoon, said real estate
broker Sarah Borders, but
the offi ce didn’t see water
inside.
“I got a phone call at
7 a.m. (Tuesday) that there
was water to our fi rst step, so
I got here as fast as I could,”
Borders said. “I called a
chain of other (businesses)
... we had sandbags down
here at 10 a.m. but until then
it was really just maintain-
ing the debris in the runoff
areas.”
Borders said most of the
water in their parking lot
had receded by 2 p.m., and
the real estate offi ce was
open for businesses as usual
Wednesday. But other stores
along Columbia River High-
way didn’t have the same
luck.
Earth-N-Sun and Gro-
cery Outlet were both closed
Wednesday due to fl ood
damage. Borders said she
also observed Don Pedros
restaurant and Rainier RV
Center Inc. standing in water
throughout Tuesday.
Rainier’s only large food
store, Grocery Outlet, was in
a direct path downhill from
the creek overfl ow.
The store itself did not
sustain any damage, but a
portion of the parking lot
near the entry doors was
washed out where the prop-
erty abuts the open section
of Fox Creek, said Kyle
Noble, a spokesman for the
company.
The company is keeping
the store closed indefi nitely
as a safety precaution until
it can assess the damage,
Noble said late Wednesday.
“Heavy
rains
have
wreaked havoc on the sur-
rounding landscape causing
a fl ood adjacent to our store
and damage to our parking
lot,” Noble said in a prepared
statement. “We are currently
working to get the appro-
priate personnel in place to
evaluate and make the nec-
essary repairs and ensure the
store is safe to reopen to the
public.”
He did not have an esti-
mate for when the store
would reopen.
DEATHS
Feb. 13, 2019
BARROW, May Dagne, 87, of Warrenton, died in Seaside. Ocean View Funeral & Cre-
mation Service of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements.
KINNUNEN, Gertrude Elizabeth (Palo), 92, of Astoria, died in Astoria. Caldwell’s
Luce-Layton Mortuary of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
THURSDAY
Gearhart Planning Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 698 Pacifi c Way.
Warrenton Planning Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 225 S. Main Ave.
LOTTERIES
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy,
sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries,
sn-snow, i-ice.
CLATSOP
POWER
EQUIPMENT , INC.
SALES SERVICE RENTALS
•
Ian McCluskey/Oregon Public Broadcasting
Photographer Ken Shults searches for great gray owls in the
forests of central Oregon.
OREGON
Wednesday’s Pick 4:
1 p.m.: 2-4-9-3
4 p.m.: 4-5-4-6
7 p.m.: 0-8-1-3
10 p.m.: 7-8-4-2
Wednesday’s Lucky Lines:
4-7-11-13-20-24-27-31
Estimated jackpot: $47,000
Wednesday’s Megabucks:
3-8-10-24-28-36
Estimated jackpot: $8.2 million
Wednesday’s Powerball: 2-8-
14-24-69, Powerball: 26
Estimated jackpot: $260
million
WASHINGTON
Wednesday’s Daily Game:
5-5-1
Wednesday’s Hit 5: 08-10-36-
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