Snowy owl invasion

I see them every year in MN but this year is crazy. Guessing I've seen 40+ in the past week.
The few Hungarian partridge we have are gonna take a whooping!

That happened here a few years ago. Saw them everywhere that winter

Guy I knew trapped and tagged them here for the State D.E.C.Beautiful birds.

That is one owl I haven't seen. See plenty of owls here but never one of them.

Maybe they’re headed to Hogwarts! lol

They sure are pretty. We only get one or two here every so often.

A sign of a widespread small mammal crash in the north.
That will make marten move long distances in good numbers also when they abandon their home ranges.
Seen it twice with the marten.All adults-almost no juveniles.
Havent seen any numbers of snowy owls here yet.

seen a pair on the back field 2 days ago used to be a rare sighting now common even in early fall

Hogwarts Lee you never cease to amaze me

That's what I was wondering, coming south for food

They seem to like the big marsh and are hanging around. 2 to 5 a day for me while trapping. Highlight of the season.

I saw this one 2 weeks ago in NE

They love this open country and like posting on telephone poles.
Went on a 125 mile coyote tour today and seen about 20.
Beautiful birds!

Maybe Muskrat411 will chime in what has happened around him on the McKenzie River.
Did not see many going through Manitoba this fall.
The do cue into where the rats are getting frozen out.

Any areas that have had crops not harvested the mouse populations build up and you can have one on every telephone pole in those spots.

we are not good snowy owl country. north west (the direction not President Kanyia's kid) of here on the North Slope and Alaska might be better more open country. We have mostly Great horned owls and small hawk owls and another even smaller owl. We will see the occasional snowy owl but never vey many of them. The Mackenzie Delta is really thick willow country

I think your small owl is likely a boreal owl.

The smaller owl is probably the Boreal Owl about fist size.
True you have to get east into the barren grounds for the breeding area

OOKPIK

As beautiful as they are, they can sure decimate the Hungarian partridge population!
Funny how a pure white male can take off and fly right in front of my truck with snow on the ground and all but dissapear.

Yep, Buddy in Alaska says no rabbits around his place this year. Good thing the owls have wings and can fly. The lynx are starving and on the decline. Typical 10 yr cycle from what I understand.

Our rabbit population crashed a couple years ago and we are only seeing the beginning of a recovery this winter.

What town are you near? My wife would love to see one, I've only ever saw one that I remember here in South haven.

Every year we end up with our share of them here in ND too. I have times I will see more than one between the house and town, 6 miles. It seems like there is more than there was 20 years ago.

I see a few snowy owls near here most Winters. I think they are beautiful. There's one section of Ohio State Route 38, just above London, Ohio, where there will often be several snowy owls for a week or so, each Winter. They sit on some telephone poles along the road, within sight of each other.

Keith

we get a few around here every year most die , starvation, is what they say [dnr]

I have a friend in Marquette that claims they find them face planted on the Superior shoreline. They figure after flying over the lake they collapsed on land from exhaustion. Wonder how many don’t make land and get swallowed up by the lake?

Here in Michigan's thumb, I usually see maybe a half dozen or so. Haven't seen one yet this season, but I haven't been out much.
They typically perch on utility poles, barn roofs,or on the ground. I have never seen one in a tree.

I remember an owl bander who did a little paper search in the HBC records to where they sent those traps that were set to catch owls on poles. Then he sent letters to the managers of some of those post to post a reward for the traps to be turned in. He then paid the postage back to him. Wonder how many of those traps ended up in some personal trap collections in the USA.?

it was a two edge sword his efforts
he got traps back
but it re-kindled a old tradition in some of the communities

I saw one 3 days ago. I’m in North Missouri. Heard about another one. Same county but several miles away. Thinking it’s a different one.
I’d guess about 1 year in 5 they make it this far south.

They show up here about now every winter, they seem to key on the ducks that overwinter on the prairie.

We get good numbers some winters here, here they mostly hunt pheasants in the winter.

We even see a few on NC Hatteras Island beaches in late winter. Colder weather might push some there later in the season.

Sounds like they may have had a good breeding year--a population explosion:


Irruptive range
Large winter irruptions at temperate latitudes are thought to be due to good breeding conditions resulting in more juvenile migrants.[6] These result in irruptions occurring further south than the typical snowy owl range in some years.[95] They have been reported, as well as in all northerly states in the contiguous states,[96] as far south as the Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, nearly all the Gulf Coast of the United States, Colorado, Nevada, Texas, Utah, California and even Hawaii.[5][10][97] In January 2009, a snowy owl appeared in Spring Hill, Tennessee, the first reported sighting in the state since 1987.[98] Also notable is the mass southern migration in the winter of 2011/2012, when thousands of snowy owls were spotted in various locations across the United States.[99] This was then followed by an even larger mass southern migration in 2013/2014 with the first snowy owls seen in Florida for decades.[100][101] The nature of irruptions is less well-documented in Eurasia, in part due to the paucity of this owl in the European side, but accidental occurrence, presumably during irruptions, has been described in the Mediterranean area, France, Crimea, the Caspian part of Iran, Kazakhstan, northern Pakistan, northwestern India, Korea and Japan.[5][6][102] Stragglers may too turn up as far south as the Azores and Bermuda.[4]

Too bad they dont eat Redtails.

Same years the Marten were on the move.

Somebody has to say it. Ti's on account of global warming don't you know.

Don't know how long ago that was.The guy here that trapped and banded the owls didn't use foot traps on poles.He used live traps,,almost like a miniture turkey net trap.He used live pigeons for bait,,,and actualy waited in a short distance from the trap,,and set it off by hand when an owl went for the pigeon.

BB Did ya see any coyotes?

I am sure its just a natural migration that's been going on forever. The voles their main food source is now living under the snow, so they migrate south just like the geese do when they run out of food.

Folks here eat them on occasion. Like Muskrat we dont have many local here. Most on the North slope I imagine.

I remember seeing snowy owls, during the Winter, when I was a kid in Cincinnati, Ohio, during the early seventies.

Keith

There was a trap made especially to go on poles around the turn of the century maybe Cohunt would know. His searches were in the 1960-70 when he worked security for HBC

They eat owls?

Snowy Owl •
Units 17, 18, 22, 23, and 26:
Residents: No limit; however, a bird may be taken only if used for food or clothing, and no bird or
part of a bird may be sold or offered for sale........................................................................................................Sept 1-Apr 1 Nonresidents:.................................................................................................................................................no open season

No, not one. Tracks were everywhere.

Huh. I'll forgo the obvious question and assume they taste like spotted owl, or chicken....be a cool mount

I read once that it is speculated that most of those snowy owls that make it to the lower 48 end up dying from starvation since they don't really adapt to the new environment.
It would be interesting to know if that is true.

Seen 100s over the years and never seen a dead one?

Oops, I lied. Shot one bout 40 years ago with a .22lr. Thought it was a jackrabbit sitting on a snowdrift.

Beautiful birds. Many like setting in high places around many towns and cities. The squirrels are good meals for many of them. With all the winter bird and animal feeding we do, we help them funnel prey for them.

Bryce

Meh.

They can keep them up north

We had an invasion of snowy owls here in PA a few years ago. I forget what they said the cause was but the event caused quite a stir.

In the marsh they perch on rat huts, trap stakes or just sit on the bays

Thanks for posting nimzy, appreciate the pics

Yes. we can also hunt great horned owls if we want.

Snowy owl feathers are used exclusively for men's Eskimo dance fans as well.

Heard there was a large migration through Manitoba mid 2021 December with 100 in a 60 mile stretch.
There was a published paper out of Saskatoon lately of 2 Saskatchewan farmers who were banders and their returns over a 40 year period that I am tracking down now to read.

This might be what your looking for.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/...dian-farmers-help-bust-a-pervasive-myth/

Yes that is the author Weibe out of Univ Sask Saskatoon.
She was touring with another bander Jim Duncan( that Gulo knows), just before the c-19 pandemic hit in India.

There could be a new published paper that came around in the Bird Notes from Birds Canada. More digging
There is an eruption of Halk Owls this year that a bander has had some good luck with catching.