Thank you again for the feedback. I am assuming that you would like to see this game updated (rather than just providing the feedback for the sake of my own learning) and so my responses below are focused on next steps of development of Mustelia rather than games of this type in general.
"the bad pathfinder can invalidate the run for cover"
How bad is the pathfinding overall? The reason I ask is because it is a big job to fix properly or I could work on your other suggestions first and fix pathfinding later.
"it simply feels like owls are too weak in their current form"
I'm not sure I understand what you mean. I thought the problem was owls are too dangerous? I would also interested to hear if you have any specific ideas for different owl counters and/or dangers.
"Corn would work well as a third food source"
Ok, that should be easy enough to do.
"you are not supposed to gather resources and build things at night"
This is correct. The valley is supposed to feel like a dangerous place at night.
"Danger should be telegraphed simply as a notice of who, how, why, and sometimes where."
This is good. I will consider those references and add a feature for this in the next release.
"upgrades lose resources"
I will investigate this and your suggested reference games.
"balancing linear aspects"
Thanks, I'll read up on this.
"two things with construction"
These should be relatively easy to implement but I am concerned about how to make the mustelids prioritise their projects and resources. I will think about this a bit more.