Wednesday, January 21, 2015

A Snowy Owl Sequel This Winter?

By Pat Leonard.
Last year's blizzard of Snowy Owls in the Great Lakes states, the Northeast, and down the Atlantic Coast was epic, an unprecedented irruption.

Now some birders are asking, is it happening again?

Snowy Owls are being seen and reported on eBird this winter across the northern-third of the Lower 48 states from Washington state to Maine, with some reports of snowies as far south as Oklahoma and Maryland.

Scientists surmise that last year's large southward sweep of Bubo scandiacus east of the Mississippi River was triggered by a record nesting season among the breeding population in northern Quebec. When it came time for fledglings to disperse, some among the bumper crop of young snowies had to travel far south to find food. The majority of Snowy Owls seen in the Lower 48 states last year were young males.

This past summer, there was another bumper crop-this time in Nunavut. Researchers from Canada's Laval University reported record numbers of Snowy Owls nesting on Bylot Island. The previous high found in and around their research plot was 33 nests in 2010; this year they found 116 nests.

So this winter's Snowy Owls could be returnees from northern Ontario, new birds from Nunavut, or a mix of both. A Snowy Owl geotracking effort called Project SNOWstorm may help answer that question.

Read this complete report at: http://blog.allaboutbirds.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/SnowyMapBIG.jpg