Earlier this winter, Project SNOWstorm worked with its partners at the Biodiversity Research Institute and USDA’s Maine Wildlife Services to tag our first snowy owl in Maine, a female named Brunswick. It’s taken a bit more than a month, but last week we tagged our second Pine Tree State snowy, another female that we’ve nicknamed Casco. After a rush of owls … Read More
Chaumont, and an Owl Called Hardscrabble
Tom McDonald has been putting in the hours — and the miles — this winter, as he has for more than 25 years of doing snowy owl work. But he really shifted into high gear the past two weeks, after Chaumont moved from Amherst Island in Ontario back across the border into New York. That gave Tom his first opportunity … Read More
Ice Owls
If there’s been a theme that was missing so far this winter — one that had been nearly constant in previous years — it’s been ice. Snowy owls love ice. For example, researchers with Laval University in Quebec (including our SNOWstorm colleague Jean-François Therrien from Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania) have documented how some adult snowies leave the breeding grounds in … Read More
All Roads Lead to Amherst
We’ve been talking all winter about how Amherst Island in Ontario has a reputation as an internationally famous owl mecca — and the fact that three of our tagged snowies have been wintering there only confirmed that distinction. Well, make it four. This week Tibbetts, who had been wandering around the New York side of the St. Lawrence near Chaumont … Read More
The Three Amigos, and Other Owls
It’s always a little thrill when the cell phone vibrates and the text messages start coming in: “CTT Data Update: Unit #27236551 (Salisbury 4Y Male) has checked in.” And then another, and another, until we have the weekly report from our far-flung tribe. The three amigos (well, two amigos and an amiga) were back together on Amherst Island this past … Read More
Dakota Makes 40
It took a lot of long, cold hours, but Project SNOWstorm has its first tagged owl on the Great Plains — Dakota, captured this week by Dave Brinker and Matt Solensky in east-central North Dakota. She’s a landmark owl for us in several respects– the 40th we’ve tagged since we started in two winters ago. Dave will have the full story … Read More