When we launched the Indiegogo campaign for Project SNOWstorm on Jan. 2, we gulped hard and set the goal at $20,000 by March 2, hoping we’d get at least a good portion of that figure to fund additional transmitters. So it is with no small degree of amazement, and a boundless sense of gratitude, that we mark a milestone: This … Read More
David Sibley print to benefit SNOWstorm
We’re delighted (and honored) that renowned artist and field guide author David Sibley is making limited edition prints of this lovely gouache portrait of a snowy owl available to support Project SNOWstorm. David will donate $10 from the purchase of each signed, numbered giclee print to help fund the work we’re doing to study this winter’s snowy owl invasion. The painting … Read More
He (hearts) Philly
I spend a lot of time at airports, but usually not like this — crouching next to a taxiway at Philadelphia International Airport, trying to keep a snowy owl from being killed. Working with the USDA’s APHIS-Wildlife Services program and the Pennsylvania Game Commission, I was hoping to catch a snowy that had set up housekeeping at the midst of … Read More
Hair on fire
Sorry for the lack of updates the past few days — there’s been plenty going on, some of it behind the scenes (more about that shortly). One friend commented today, “You guys must be running around like your hair’s on fire.” That pretty much sums it up. In Wisconsin, SNOWstorm collaborator Gene Jacobs has been trying to tag two more … Read More
Checking in on Buena Vista
Thanks to Eric Preston of Madison, Wisconsin, for sending in this photo of “Buena Vista,” which was tagged with a transmitter on Dec. 23 in Portage County, WI. Here you can see the transmitter clearly, right where it’s supposed to be – high in the middle of the back. Buena Vista has been hanging out in the same square mile … Read More
Back on the prowl
After his enforced hiatus during the snowstorm, Assateague was back on the prowl last night, cruising much of lower Barnegat Bay. He flew across Barnegat Inlet to Island Beach, then made a number of extensive overwater flights to the north, sometimes stopping (as has been his habit) on channel markers a mile or two offshore. How much of that was … Read More
What does a snowy do in the snow?
The Northeast got smacked last night with a nasty snowstorm that reached blizzard levels in some areas. On the New Jersey coast, where Assateague has been hanging out, it wasn’t quite that bad, but snowfall totals reached 10 inches, with high winds and coastal flooding warnings. You’d think a snowy owl would love this weather, but it’s apparent from Assateague’s … Read More
The SNOWstorm begins
Thanks for visiting the Project SNOWstorm blog – we’ll be updating it regularly with news about snowy owls and the research we’re conducting this winter. This enormous project – which has dozens of partners and team members stretching from Minnesota to New England – came together in a matter of a few weeks starting in early December when the magnitude … Read More
Project SNOWstorm launches on Indiegogo
We are excited that we now have our crowdfunding campaign all set up. Already many people have contributed since we launched in the morning of Jan 2 and we have raised enough to buy another transmitter. We are proud to have many sponsors that offered ‘perks’ to contributors who donate through Indiegogo including Bird Watcher’s Digest, the American Birding Association, … Read More
An update on Assateague and Buena Vista
The first owl fitted with these new transmitters, nicknamed “Assateague,” was tagged Dec. 17 on Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland. Since then, he has wandered more than 150 miles, up the Delmarva Peninsula, around Delaware Bay, across southern New Jersey and up the coast. At one point, he took in the nocturnal sights from the end of Atlantic City’s … Read More