As part of my master’s degree program at the University of New Mexico in 1961-62 I took a course in ornithology taught by the eminent biologist, Dr. James Findley.

The operative definition we used for a species was, and still is, a group of organisms with common characteristics capable of interbreeding and producing viable offspring. We saw diversity within a species can vary widely depending upon adaption to evolutionary pressures.

The glaciers of the last ice age were a major barrier for many species. Evolutionary changes on both sides are widely known, resulting in wide ranges in characteristics within certain groups.

Occasionally, there will be two species with similar characteristics that intermingle with no apparent effect on their relationships. They do not breed, therefore the two species persist.

Other times different groups with varying characteristics will breed and produce viable offspring. When this happens, science at that time declared the two groups were of the same species.

Dr. Findley, at that time, told us to watch two eastern species that were beginning to move westward that we might want to follow. They were the yellow-shafted flickers (Colaptes auatus) and the barred owl (Strix varia). It didn’t take long for the yellow-shafted flicker to be observed in La Grande and Hermiston, Ore., in the 1980s mating with the resident red-shafted flickers (Colaptes cafer) producing viable offspring with lighter colored feathers. These birds are now called northern flicker (Colaptes auatus).

The barred owl took a more northerly route going through Canada but eventually ended up on the West Coast. Here they began moving into the spotted owl (Strix occidentalis) habitat. They then did a “no-no.” They were aggressive and they began chasing the spotted owl out of their territory. This was a violation of the 1973 Endangered Species Act. We have got to protect the spotted owl from going extinct!

But wait a minute, these blasted barred owls are also mating with the spotted owls producing viable offspring (Species name undetermined). I am suggesting (Strix varia).

Forget about the old definition of a species. We need to enforce the 1973 Endangered Species Act. So we are going to take shot gun in hand and for a few million dollars we are going to blast the hell out of those invading barred owls.

Folks, it isn’t going to work. We don’t have to go too far back in our history to find we had laws, that we now call racist, that prohibited mating within a species. They didn’t work either. 

Carlisle Harrison

Hermiston, Ore.