Three wise owlmen shine new light on birds of prey. Data compiled by amateur naturalists is 'pure gold'

ED STRUZIK, Journal Staff Writer
EDMONTON, The Edmonton Journal, December 29,1999

In the backwoods near Sherwood Park, Ray Cromie takes a left turn off the old Edmonton Trail and leads us on foot into the thick forest.

At 60, the retired vice-principal and father of six is not what you'd describe as young or svelte. So when he puts on his climbing belt and shimmies up an old snag, there is a moment of anxious silence below.

Near the top, Cromie sticks his hand into an old pileated woodpecker hole, looks back down at us and shakes his head in disappointment.

'The eggs are cold,' he shouts. 'It must have happened pretty recently because she was here the other day. I'll bet you a great-horned owl got her when she was out hunting.'

The victim in this case was not a woodpecker, but a saw-whet owl, one of the smallest, most charismatic birds of prey in Western Canada.

Weighing no more than 100 grams, and no longer than 190 mm in length, the tiny bird can be tempted, with the help of a mouse in hand, to fly right up to people. Given the fact that it is most active at night, it is generally a rare sight in the aspen parkland and boreal forest of Alberta.

Sightings of saw-whets could become even rarer if urban development and forestry projects continue to displace their habitat. Saw-whets nest almost exclusively in the cavities of old snags that have been pecked out by pileated woodpeckers.

Determining just how much of an impact urban and industrial development has had on owls and other birds of prey in the Edmonton area is difficult to discern because few studies have been done. But thanks to amateur naturalists like Cromie, truck driver Hardy Pletz and letter carrier Trevor Roper -- the three wise owlmen of the Edmonton area -- naturalists are beginning to learn more about central and northern Alberta's owls than they had ever hoped.

The trio has captured and banded more than 2,700 owls and hawks in the region over the past 20 years. The bands allow both naturalists and scientists to track individual birds on their migrations from season to season.

'Those data sets are pure gold,' says Alberta government biologist Gord Court who specializes in birds of prey.

'With the information people like Ray, Hardy and Trevor have provided us, we now have more information about our owls here than we could hope to have gathered if we had put someone full time on it over the next 10 years.'

Among the three, Pletz is regarded as the 'Wayne Gretzky' of owl and hawk banders. He specializes in the great-horned owl and has caught and banded more than 1,400 over the years.

Cromie has a soft spot for the saw-whet. He's caught and banded 580 since he was introduced to the banding world by Pletz.

'Until people started reporting seeing Ray's birds, we didn't know where our saw-whets went to,' says Court. 'Now we know they go all over the place. There's been a sighting in Vancouver and even one from as far away as Green Bay, Wisconsin.

'We've also got some returns from barred owls that he's banded and they're an extremely rare bird in these parts.'

Cromie got his passion for owls and other birds of prey early on in life when he wandered the fields and backwoods of the small Alberta towns he grew up in.

'I was a bit of a loner,' he says. 'I didn't smoke or drink, so when the other kids got into stuff like that, I'd just take off for a walk in the woods.'

Cromie tried to introduce that passion to the children he taught for 31 years in Sherwood Park.

'He was a big hit as a teacher,' says Court, a product of one of Cromie's schools.

'His class was just full of stuff like snakes he collected from local hibernacula (dens), as well as birds, wings and tails.

'It was the heartbreak of my life when I never got him as a home-room teacher. I had to join the chess club just to get access to the classroom.'

Sensing that some owls are in trouble in the Edmonton area, Cromie has been building and setting up artificial nests for them in remote forests and woodlots.

He's even gone knocking on the doors of local farmers and landowners, asking them if he could set some up on their property.

'I think that in the last five years, I've had only one person turn me down,' he says. 'Most landowners are more than willing to help.'

So far, Cromie has built and installed more than 100 nest boxes for all kinds of owls. There's little doubt that he has done some good.

Of the 26 saw-whet nests he came across this year, 23 were established in one of the boxes he built.

Cromie has become a bit of a hot commodity in the scientific world.

He recently assisted Tim Schowalter of the Tyrell Museum of Paleontology for a study of mammal distribution in Alberta. Three University of Alberta graduates have called on him for assistance and advice on their research projects.

And he's also assisted in the preparation of 'Status of Wildlife' reports for the Alberta government.

'It's really just a hobby, a way of relaxing,' says Cromie. 'But I get a lot of satisfaction doing this kind of thing. If it helps a scientist or student, great. And if my work helps owls, even better still.'

Edmonton Journalm Reports: [Special Places 2000] [Endangered Species of Western Canada]