It’s exciting to see the movements of Snowy Owls mapped daily over years by Project Snowstorm – they are truly fascinating birds (photo by Paul Konrad).

Snowy Owls are among the most exciting birds to find along the border regions of the United States and Canada, but this winter comparatively few Snowy Owls have migrated south. Most Snowys are apparently opting to stay in Arctic landscapes this winter, which probably indicates they are finding ample foods and little competition. In fact, among the many Snowy Owls that are being tracked by Project Snowstorm, only 2 of the transmitter-tagged Snowys have come as far as southern Canada where cell towers can pick up the transmitter signals. Nonetheless, tagging and banding activities continue for biologists associated with Project Snowstorm, and 3 new Snowy Owls are being tracked remotely after being fitted new transmitters – and you can monitor the movements of these owls’ movements daily – or whenever you wish to check in.

Among the 2 returning adult Snowy Owls, the adult female was fitted with a transmitter 3 years ago, and the adult male was fitted 4 years ago. Both Arctic owls have been providing a wealth of interesting information about their movements year-round since they were tagged. Currently, the female that was originally caught in Wisconsin in January 2020 is wintering in south-central Manitoba, just north of the border of North Dakota. The adult male was originally tagged in northern New York in January 2019, and is now wintering in southeast Ontario near Ottawa, not far from Quebec and north of New York state.

New Snowy Owls Online

Among the new Snowy Owls captured and fitted with a transmitter, a third-year adult male was recently captured, tagged, and released by Matt Solensky on January 14 adjacent to J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge in north-central North Dakota. Matt is a research biologist with Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center in Jamestown, North Dakota who periodically assists Project Snowstorm.

A week earlier, on January 7th a near-adult female Snowy Owl was tagged on the east shore of Lake Huron near Point Clark, Ontario, by biologists Charlotte England and Malcolm Wilson, associated with Simcoe Raptor Research Group. This Snowy has been moving progressively south and is most recently located a short distance north of Point Pelee, a prime Canadian birding hotspot. Charlotte and Malcom also tagged a near-adult male January 11th that has remained in the area between Lake Huron and Lake Ontario in southern Ontario.

All transmitters that have been attached to Snowy Owls this winter have been underwritten by generous contributions from interested birders to Project Snowstorm.

The best way to monitor each Snowy Owl’s movements, posted on a Google map a few times each day, is to click on the tab on the bottom of the map that reads: “Find Most Recent Point,” then work your way backwards from the most recent location. Snowy Owls are truly wide-ranging birds, and as a testament to that, just for fun start with the Snowy that’s been tracked 4 years, including its routes north and south and its varied summer movements in the far north – as well as recent activities in southeast Ontario at Otter - Project SNOWstorm You can also review the adult female’s annual routes at Columbia - Project SNOWstorm

See the newest Snowy’s movements during the past couple weeks at Salyer - Project SNOWstorm and continue to monitor its progress during coming weeks and years, along with the new Ontario owls at Huron - Project SNOWstorm and Newton - Project SNOWstorm