One winter, as food gets scarce, a snowy owl finds herself forced to look in new and unfamiliar spots in order to find food and a place to call home. Based on a true story, A Snowy Owl Story describes, through the tale of one particular owl, the recent irruption of snowy owls all across the United States. Through a simple … Read More
Buckeye Hits the Road
We had another busy round of check-ins Thursday night, and now that a few days have passed, we’ve updated the map for eight of our tagged owls. The most unexpected — and welcome — change is Buckeye, who for the past couple of weeks has been haunting the runways of the Toledo Executive Airport in northwestern Ohio. Her habit of … Read More
Stay-at-homes and Wanderers
Yesterday we shared the news about our two latest transmitter owls, Geneseo and Orleans. Now we have an update on how everyone else is doing, based on the last two check-in periods. Let’s start west and work our way east, beginning with Goose Pond in Columbia County, Wisconsin. This adult male has moved about three miles (5 km) south of … Read More
Geneseo and Orleans
There’s been a lot going on at Project SNOWstorm, despite the lack of recent updates. Our core group got hit with travel (and travel delays), illnesses and a few other unavoidable hiccups that kept us occupied the past week or two, but we’re ready to catch everyone up with what’s going on. The biggest news is that we have two … Read More
Great perk for sharing our campaign with your friends
It’s been exciting to see the response to Project SNOWstorm from so many readers on the blog, Facebook, Twitter, and through emails. We have been really impressed with the interest in the project that so many of you have shown, and really appreciate that you are sharing our updates with your friends and family. We’d like to offer you something … Read More
There’s a Whole Lot Going On
Thursday night was a busy one around here — four of our newest cohort of owls checked in, as well as two of last winter’s returnees. Let’s start with the veterans. Millcreek is still chilling in Toronto, and leading a decidedly terrestrial existence this winter, compared with his floe-riding and ice-wandering on Lake Erie last year. And to our continuing … Read More
Buckeye
Project SNOWstorm has its first Ohio owl — Buckeye, an adult female tagged through the cooperation of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory in Oak Harbor, Ohio, and the Kirtland Bird Club in Cleveland, along with USDA’s Wildlife Services, which trapped and relocated her. Buckeye was a repeated offender at Detroit Metro Airport in Michigan. She was first trapped there in … Read More
Updates Galore
Settle in for a long read, folks — there’s lots of news this week, both on newly tagged snowies and returned birds from last year. We have updates both old and new on Monocacy, whom you’ll recall was just retagged and released last week after being relocated from LaGuardia Airport in Queens. She was originally tagged in March 2014 in … Read More
Meet Goose Pond
Last winter, Wisconsin was a hotspot for SNOWstorm activity, with four owls tagged in the Badger State. It’s been quieter on that front this winter, but not for a lack of trying — Wisconsin has experienced a very heavy irruption, and our colleague, noted raptor biologist Gene Jacobs, has been busy trying to trap and tag snowies. But because so many … Read More
Baltimore
We’ve had the return of Monocacy which was quite a pleasant surprise. I had really been hoping one of our Maryland owls would return and she did. Monocacy had originally been trapped at Martin State Airport and relocated to Western Maryland for her safety. But she was only half of the story. The day after Monocacy was trapped, last March, we … Read More