We’ve tagged more than 40 snowy owls in the past three years, and every one of them has given us insights and surprises. Like parents with a large family, we try not to have favorites. But it’s fair to say that in our eyes, Baltimore is first among equals. We initially banded him as a juvenile in his first winter … Read More
Eyes on Dakota
One of the best things about Project SNOWstorm is the way it’s created a community of people interested in snowy owls — we researchers who form the core team, the hundreds of people who have contributed to make the work possible, and the thousands of people who follow what the owls are doing every winter. As we’ve mentioned several times … Read More
Returning Owls! Hardscrabble and Dakota Are Back
While we’ve been looking back this past week at Project SNOWstorm’s accomplishments, we’ve also had some exciting new developments behind the scenes: the return of two of our favorite owls. Hardscrabble and Dakota are back — and Dakota, it appears, has a bun in the oven. On Nov. 10, my wife and I had just been seated at a restaurant … Read More
SNOWstorm’s Birthday (part 3)
We’re marking the third anniversary of Project SNOWstorm, which kicked off in December 2013 with our first tagged snowy owls. This is the third and final look back at what we’ve been able to do with your help, since SNOWstorm is funded entirely by donations from the public. In the lab: While the GPS transmitters we’ve placed on more than 40 … Read More
SNOWstorm’s Birthday (part 2)
As as we mark both our third anniversary and the start of our new field season, we’re taking a look back at what Project SNOWstorm has accomplished — all of it with your help, since everything we do is underwritten entirely by donations from the public. Our successes are your successes. Today, we turn our attention to some of the discoveries we’ve … Read More
SNOWstorm’s Third Birthday
Three years ago this past weekend, Project SNOWstorm began in earnest. On Dec. 17, 2013, on the coast of Maryland, we tagged a young male snowy owl we called Assateague, named for the barrier island on which we trapped and released him. The small group of us who watched Assateague fly off into the darkness that night with our first … Read More
A New Season – and a View from the Arctic
Welcome back to a new season of snowy owl research with Project SNOWstorm! Some owls are already moving south into the Canadian prairies, the Great Lakes and Northeast, and we’re gearing up for what promises to be another exciting season of research. We’re anxiously waiting for the first returning tagged owls to appear and start downloading their summer data, and we’re … Read More
Baltimore on NPR
Adam Cole of the NPR science desk produced a really delightful and whimsical short film about his expedition this winter to follow the movements of Baltimore, who wintered on Amherst Island. Do yourself an eight-minute and 42-second favor and enjoy!
Into the North
Apologies for the gap in updates — everyone at Project SNOWstorm does this as a volunteer, and this past week a number of us were out of touch and in the field, leading birding trips or studying nesting goshawks, among other day-job kinds of things. But there have been some interesting developments in the past week and a half that … Read More
Down to the End?
It’s that time of year — not a lot to report, because almost all of our tagged owls have moved out of earshot, so to speak. This past week, only two birds remained within cell range: Hardscrabble and Brunswick. Brunswick is still hunkered down in the Isle of Shoals, though I suspect the attraction is eiders, gulls and other waterbirds, … Read More