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snowy owl irruption (1 Viewer)

captaincarot said:
i'm guessing that these birds would be coming from the canadian and alaskan arcitc, where as scottish vagrants would come from the scandinavian arctic. but i could easily be wrong
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You would be completely correct, Snowy Owls are also far more numerous in the northern States than they ever are in Scandinavia, so even a 'poor' year over will notch up the owls ...saw six in December/January two winters back without much effort.
 
This is a significant irruption, not only in "Minnesota, Michigan, and North and South Dakota" which typically host at least a few Snowy Owls every winter, but owls are being seen south into Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Wyoming, and Kansas. I cannot blame the madison.com article for being somewhat Wisconsin-centric, though. ;) See also here and here.
 
Two Snowy Owls are currently being reported from Smithville Lake, Smithville, Missouri. This is just 40 miles south of where I live in Saint Joseph, Missouri. I am hoping to get down there to see at least one of them if not both!!
 
Two Snowy Owls are currently being reported from Smithville Lake, Smithville, Missouri. This is just 40 miles south of where I live in Saint Joseph, Missouri. I am hoping to get down there to see at least one of them if not both!!
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I hope you make it down there, Larry. Can't wait to retire and hit the northern states looking for these.
 
puttgrass said:
This is a significant irruption, not only in "Minnesota, Michigan, and North and South Dakota" which typically host at least a few Snowy Owls every winter, but owls are being seen south into Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Wyoming, and Kansas. I cannot blame the madison.com article for being somewhat Wisconsin-centric, though. ;) See also here and here.
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One was also shot at the honolulu airport last month.
 
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Was the one at HNL ship aided or aircraft aided (or does anyone know)? I know they've been spotted in Bermuda so just wondered.
 
No reason to believe it didn't fly to honolulu, and the timing is right. The bird was starved, and had not been seen before. Someone would have noticed a bird like that.
 
bkrownd said:
No reason to believe it didn't fly to honolulu, and the timing is right. The bird was starved, and had not been seen before. Someone would have noticed a bird like that.
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Is that even possible? The mainland is about 2,000 miles away. Don't owls like to hug the shoreline during migration to avoid flying over large expanses of water?
 
NatureLvrCanada said:
Is that even possible? The mainland is about 2,000 miles away. Don't owls like to hug the shoreline during migration to avoid flying over large expanses of water?
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Short-eareds often fly over water, and there's a record of snowy from bermuda and a number from britain.
 
Hawai'i has a record of a Golden Eagle ( killed while dive bombing a helicopter, if I'm not wrong!!!! ) so a Snowy Owl could, just, make it over the water IMO.

Chris
 
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