As we wrap up 2019 today, we have a new owl to introduce, and an update on the rest of the gang. New to the crew is Coteau, a third-year female that Matt Solensky captured Dec. 22 near Pearl Lake in western Stutsman County, North Dakota — almost the same spot where Matt tagged Pearl back in November, in fact. … Read More
Where Your Donation Goes
Earlier today I received an email from a Project SNOWstorm enthusiast who was considering a donation, but wanted to know where our donations go, especially in terms of salaries, overhead and advertising. I was happy to explain that very little of what we raise goes to overhead, to repay the staff of the Ned Smith Center for handling all of … Read More
Thank You
We know this is the time when we’re all bombarded with requests for year-end donations, and it’s easy to tune them all out. We hope, however, that if you haven’t yet made a contribution to Project SNOWstorm this season (and maybe even if you have), you’ll consider making a gift now. All donations to SNOWstorm are fully tax-deductible under U.S. … Read More
Buckeye Returns!
Sometimes Santa comes just a little bit early. On Tuesday, as my wife and I were rushing to meet her family for a Christmas Eve gathering, we got an email and an urgent message through Facebook from Selena Creed, a wildlife biologist at Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW) in Michigan. She’d just caught a snowy owl on the runway — and … Read More
Yul the River-rider
Rebecca McCabe was worried. Becca — who is working on her Ph.D. at McGill University analyzing our huge trove of snowy owl movement data, and who has also become a key member of the SNOWstorm field team — was concerned that Yul had missed several check-in times in recent weeks. Yul, as you may recall, was trapped at the Montréal … Read More
New Maps Are Up!
Our technical hiccup is behind us, and the maps four our newest owls — Medina, Pearl, Yul and the late Montréal — are now posted. And as always, the maps for previously tagged owls are updating automatically as new data comes in (with a delay for the owls’ safety), so check back frequently to see what Stella, Otter, Pettibone, Woodworth … Read More
Well, Well, Well — Wells is Back
It’s been a busy week at Project SNOWstorm, with a shuffling of the deck among our tagged owls, some closure on an early loss, and the return of very familiar name. First, though, I want to acknowledge what many of you have noticed — we still don’t have maps posted for our four newest owls. That’s because of a systems … Read More
Bonjour, Yul; Au Revoir, Montréal
Whenever you work with wild animals, you have to be prepared for your expectations to be upended, and that’s no less true with birds as unpredictable as snowy owls. After introducing our two new prairie owls in North Dakota yesterday, we were planning to highlight two newly tagged owls that were relocated last week from the Montréal-Trudeau airport in Québec, … Read More
Our Deepest Thanks
This year the start of our field work, the return of many of our tagged owls and the launch of our annual funding campaign coincided with Giving Tuesday — and the Project SNOWstorm community stepped up in astonishing fashion. We are already more than a quarter of the way to our goal in just a few days. Thank you. As … Read More
New Faces on the Prairie
When we said this winter was off to a fast start, we weren’t kidding. In addition to four previously tagged owls that have already come south into cell range, our collaborators have tagged four new snowies, each one filling in important gaps in our sample of different regions, habitats, ages and sexes. Today we’ll introduce you to Medina and Pearl, … Read More