My friend, Don Gorney, was able to snap a better photo on the previous day, Saturday. Thanks to Don for letting me use his stellar photo. With the light barring on the feathers and the pattern on the tail feathers, Don thinks this is an after-hatch year male. Younger birds and females would have darker spots on their feathers. For a photo of a juvenile bird, check out my post from a few years ago of a Snowy Owl I saw in Cleveland, OH.
The Snowy Owl's normal range is in the arctic tundra, throughout Canada and the Northern United States. Snowy Owls have a favorite snack of lemmings. Lemmings are cyclic in nature. Lemming populations will grow in number year after year and the predators, such as owls and fox will increase along with them. Eventually, they will hit a population threshold and the predators will apply too much pressure on the lemming population. The lemming population will plummet and the abundant predators will be forced to look for food elsewhere. The Snowy Owl will move southward looking for other food. These cycles seem to occur about every three or four years. A combo of a good breeding season, producing many juvenile owls, and a possible crash in the lemming population up north may force many Snowy Owls to the south.
If a Snowy Owl finds a good food source, and doesn't meet an early demise from a vehicle, it will tend to stick around for quite a while. As of today, the Snowy Owl was still at the airport. Hopefully, many of you will have a chance to view this gorgeous winter visitor!
5 comments:
How can I find out if the owl is still at the airport as of Tuesday night? Would love to take the kids out to see it on Wednesday. Where do we go once at the airport?
The owl was seen today( Wed) between the fire station and the blue maintenance barn. This area is right inside the entrance off of 600 W. The owl usually is around in this area or nearby. Another place to find an update on the owl is the IN-bird listserv. Birders post their observations there. https://listserv.indiana.edu/cgi-bin/wa-iub.exe?A0=IN-BIRD-L
Thanks for the great discussion of Snowy Owl behavior and migration! I hope that this bird will survive its southern sojourn and that many people will have a chance to enjoy seeing it.
Thanks, Kenn! Thank you for the kind comments. You are always so encouraging to other birders and naturalists! Hopefully I will see you and Kim sometime soon.
Two weeks ago while driving north of Montpelier Indiana my wife and I saw a large white bird which we now presume to be a Snowy Owl glide across the road in front us. I was almost certain it was an owl from the shape but in my 63 years had never seen one like this. This morning as my wife drove to work near Muncie Indiana along the same road but about 12 south of the first spotting she saw a white owl perched on a telephone pole and called me at home. I did some research and believe we have either seen two birds or the same bird twice. Either way it was great to see. We also have an Osprey visit a pond along side our house a few times a year. Really cool to watch it dive into the water for a fish.
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