|
| Scott & a fledgling Northern Pygmy-Owl |
Morro Coast Audubon Society (MCAS) March 2026 Zoom Community Program
Program: Small Mountain Owls
When: March 16th, 2026 7:00 pm
Presenter(s): Scott Rashid, Director of the Colorado Avian Research and Rehabilitation Institute (CARRI)
Join Zoom Meeting Zoom Meeting ID: 910 0402 5964; Passcode: 885475
You can also find the link in the MCAS Events Calendar.
To support MCAS’s mission and activities, including Community Programs, please consider becoming a member of MCAS.
All MCAS Community Programs are free and open to the public. All ages are welcome. No signup/registration required to attend.
Description:
This presentation covers four small mountain owls found in the western mountains and especially in and around Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP).
This program will cover the natural history of Northern Pygmy-Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Boreal Owl, and the Flammulated Owl. Scott has been working with these owls, researching and rehabilitating them for more than 30 years.
Scott has documented the first nest of a pair of Flammulated Owls in RMNP and the first-ever Boreal Owl nest in RMNP. He has documented each species’ preferred habitats, nests, and feeding, not to mention courtship, growth of their young, and more.
Scott and his researchers have been trapping and banding these birds as part of their research. During the program, you will learn the results of these banding operations. You will find out how many of these birds are captured by CARRI members each fall and where they may spend the winters.
Bio:
Artist, Researcher, Bird Rehabilitator, Author, and Director of the nonprofit organization, Colorado Avian Research and Rehabilitation Institute (CARRI), are only a few things that describe Scott Rashid. Scott has been painting, illustrating, and writing about birds since 1989. He has been passionate about birds ever since he was a young boy living in Wisconsin.
In 1992, he received his state and federal banding permits, and two years later was asked to create a bird banding program at the YMCA of the Rockies just south of Estes Park, Colorado. That banding station is still in operation today, and he has grown it into the most popular program at the largest YMCA in the world, having thousands of guests visit the station each year. In 2014, Scott and his volunteers banded their 10,000th bird there.
In 1994, Scott became a licensed bird rehabilitator and began caring for injured birds. Through his rehabilitation efforts, he has returned hundreds of injured and orphaned birds to the wild. Through his rehabilitation efforts, he has taken care of eagles, falcons, owls, and hawks as well as songbirds, hummingbirds, and corvids of all kinds.
In 1998, he began studying Northern Pygmy-Owls in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). Since then, he has located 18 different Northern Pygmy-Owl nests in and outside of the National Park. The information obtained from his studies has been published in several books, magazines, and scientific journals.
Also in 1998, he began locating Northern Goshawk territories and nest sites in and around RMNP. He has located and monitored over a dozen active Northern Goshawk nests since then. This monitoring includes spending countless hours with the birds near their nests documenting incubation dates, hatching dates, food deliveries, as well as fledging and post-fledging activities.
In 2004, Scott located the first Flammulated Owl nest within RMNP. He has also located several Northern Saw-whet Owl nests both inside and outside of RMNP, and has proven that the Boreal Owl does, in fact, nest within the boundaries of RNMP.
In 2011, Scott created the Colorado Avian Research and Rehabilitation Institute (CARRI) in Estes Park, CO. Members of the nonprofit rehabilitate injured birds found in and around Estes Park and research birds in and around RMNP, Estes Park, and the front range of Colorado.
Scott’s books include Small Mountain Owls (2009), The Great Horned Owl (2015), The Northern Goshawk, the Gray Ghost (2015), Exploring the World of the Barn Owl (2019), American Kestrel, the Diminutive Raptor (2022), Northern Saw-whet Owl, the Deep Woods Gnome (2021) and Small Mountain Owls, Revised and Expanded Edition (2022).
Most recently, in 2025, Scott was awarded the prestigious Champion of Owls Award from the International Owl Center in Houston, Minnesota.
If you have questions, email Wendy McKeown, Programs Chair mailto:commprograms@morrocoastaudubon.org
