Biologists tracking snowy owl sightings

By: 
Linda Gallagher, Contributing Writer

Courtesy photo

North America's largest owl, Snowy owls are once again being documented as they make their winter migrations south from the Arctic into the U.S., including into both Antrim and Kalkaska counties. 

REGION – Every winter, both Antrim and Kalkaska counties host a number of large, ghost-like Snowy Owls that have migrated south from the bitter cold of the Arctic in search of food.

In 2013, what is known in the scientific world as an "irruption" of Snowy Owls occurred, when millions of the birds, far more than usual, made their way south, more than a few into northern Michigan.

Interested in what may be causing such a mass migration, biologists throughout the country took an interest in the invasion.

"The numbers were incredible," said Scott Wiedensaul, a biologist in northeastern Pennsylvania. "Birders and biologists alike were wildly excited with this unique, and probably once in a century, event."

To demonstrate the numbers of birds spotted, a birder in Newfoundland reported counting nearly 300 snowies in one small area at Cape Race, 75 of them visible in a single sweep of his binoculars. White owls were showing up as far south as Jacksonville, Florida, and on the island of Bermuda.

With the help of several other biologists, birders and owl banders, Wiedensaul began recruiting other banders to attempt trapping and banding snowy owls to help monitor their movements. He also solicited photographs from the public, which allowed the scientists to age and determine the sex of many owls to get a sense of where the different classes were wintering.

That was the beginning of Project SNOWstorm.

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