Post Archive by Year

One of the most common questions we’ve been getting lately is, How does this winter’s irruption compare with last year’s, or with previous winters? Fortunately, our colleague Andrew Farnsworth at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology tackled just this question over at BirdCast, the CLO project that forecasts bird migration using radar and other information. Andrew and Benjamin Van Doren have used … Read More

I’m bald, and I love cold weather, so I am keenly aware of how important a hat is in preventing heat loss through the head. I was really excited when PRBY Apparel, the creator of the “SNOW” part of our logo, decided to make a hat with that same image. I could now look really cool, while staying warm, and … Read More

Delaware received the best medical care from The Maryland Zoo and expert evaluation from wildlife rehabilitators at Owl Moon Raptor Center and Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research during her nine months in captivity. However, her wing injury had been corrected with a new technique and we had yet to see how she would manage when returned to the wild. Her … Read More

Monday morning found me peering intently at a photograph of ‘Delaware’, our latest owl to receive a transmitter. However, I wasn’t as interested in the owl as much as what was below her perch. A blob of white with some dark matter. It looked fresh and healthy, a dropping from a bird that has eaten. But was it hers? A quick email to … Read More

 (Dr. Cindy Driscoll is the state fish and wildlife veterinarian for Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources [DNR], and has served as the veterinary coordinator for Project SNOWstorm since our start last winter. Read how Cindy got involved through SNOWstorm cofounder Dave Brinker — and click here for a longer story and photos from the University of Pennsylvania about how Project … Read More

Let me start with an apology, for the gap in updates — I was out of the country last week, and the rest of the SNOWstorm team was scattered to the four winds as well. Which is a shame, because our second owl from last winter has popped up in cell range — Century, banded in Massachusetts in March by … Read More

Last week, my phone suddenly went nuts — Mike Lanzone and Andy McGann at CTT, who make the transmitters we use, and Dave Brinker in Maryland, were all trying to call at the same time, with the same fantastic news. Millcreek was back! This immature male snowy owl, which Mike and bander Tom McDonald had tagged last Jan. 20 in … Read More

By Jean-François Therrien Every year since the late 1980s, a group of researchers of which I feel lucky to call myself part has headed north to the high Arctic — as do snowy owls — to monitor their summer breeding areas. Our long-term study site is on Bylot Island in Nunavut, Canada, at 73 degrees north, above Baffin Island. It … Read More

Welcome to the first blog update of the 2014-15 winter season from Project SNOWstorm. Whether you’ve been following our progress from the very start, or just joined the excitement, we’re glad you’re here. Project SNOWstorm is a collaborative effort, involving dozens of researchers, banders, wildlife veterinarians and pathologists who are studying the movements of snowy owls. The project started last … Read More