Snowy Owl Invasion!: Tracking an Unusual Migration
For dear friends Lance and Sarah Wiegand and their children Alexander Benjamin Catherine Davis Elizabeth and Fairyn The author would like to thank the following people for sharing their enthusiasm and expertise Dr David Brinker wildlife biologist and cofounder of Project SNOWstorm Dr Derver Holt President of the Owl Research Institute Steve Huy naturalist Ken Knowles naturalist and birder tour leader for Wildland Tours Newfoundland Canada Andrew J McGann Product Specialist Cellular Tracking Technologies LLC Norman Smith Director of Mass Audubon's Society Blue Hills Trailside Museum Milton Massachusetts and Scott Weidensaul Founding Board Member of the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art Millersburg Pennsylvania and cofounder of Project SNOWstorm A special thank you to Skip Jeffery for his loving support during the creative process
CONTENTS THE INVASION HISTORY IN THE MAKING SNOWIES BECOME SNOWBIRDS GOOD NEWS BAD NEWS PROJECT SNOWSTORM A STAR UWL REPORTER THE FUTURE IS SNOWY AUTHOR S NOTE SOURCE NOTES GLOSSARY FIND OUT MORE INDEX
THE INVASION On a cold windy day in November 2013 wildlife biologist David Brinker trudged across Assateague Island in Maryland He was searching for saw whet owls as part of a project to study their migration travels north and south But what he found instead surprised him On one sand dune peeking through winter dried plants sat a big white bird a snowy owl Snowy owls often rest on the ground and are naturally colored to blend in
These big owls spend summers hunting and breeding in the Arctic Most remain in the Arctic year round However each winter some migrate south to have less competition for food It was unusual to see any as far south as Maryland though Yet this was the second snowy owl Brinker had seen on Assateague in the past couple of weeks Over the next week Brinker noticed that bird watchers online were reporting an unusual number of snowy owl sightings in Canada The reports from the Cape Race area at the southeastern tip of Newfoundland Canada were amazing 43 snowy owls or snowies spotted on November 23 138 on December 1 and 206 on December 8 According to Ken Knowles a birding tour leader in that area It's rare to see more than ten snowy owls in an entire winter Within this short time I saw more than I'd seen in thirty years Brinker was fascinated Clearly this year snowies were pouring south out of the Arctic he said Something big was going on So what was it Snowy owls traveled south and stayed for the winter even in Washington DC
