We’re on the cusp of May, a time when snowy owls are usually off our radar for the summer — but we actually have some late news from three of our tagged owls, while two that had been lingering in the south slipped away without leaving a goodbye note. We’ll start with the latter pair first. Salyer had been loafing … Read More
Going West and Looping the Loop
So, the great “Bolt for the North” we were expecting last week didn’t materialize, although one snowy did shift his compass in that direction and one of our long-stationary owls did begin to move significantly — although to the west, not the north. And one of the owls that had been migrating north did a complete turnaround and is back … Read More
They’re Off (Some of Them, Anyway)
Just a quick update, but after a few false starts, two of our tagged owls are moving north in a serious way. Huron, after lingering for several weeks at the edge of Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron, flew 220 miles (355 km) north, up the “hand” of Michigan’s mitten, across the Straits of Mackinac and onto the Upper Peninsula, covering … Read More
Alderbrooke, All Over the Place
For an owl that was off our radar until just a few weeks ago, Alderbrooke has proven to be one of the most wide-ranging of this winter’s owls. When she first popped back on the grid last month she was on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River in southern Québec, 120 km (75 miles) northeast of Québec City. … Read More
First on the Way
And they’re off. We’ve been wondering when the first significant push north would occur among this winter’s cadre of snowy owls, and it appears Huron, the adult female that had been wintering in southern Ontario, is the first out of the gates. Since late January she’s been hanging out south of Tilbury, ON, between Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair, … Read More
A Big (Pleasant) Surprise
We’re usually on tenterhooks in late autumn and early winter — from about mid-November to the end of December — expecting to hear from the first returning tagged snowy owls. As we’ve mentioned before, this was a very slow year on that front — just two returning veterans, Columbia and Otter, compared with a more typical winter like 2021-22 when … Read More
The Pull of the North
Breaking, and very unwelcome news: As I was preparing to post this update, we learned that Roc, the adult female tagged by Tom McDonald’s team at the Douglass-Greater Rochester (NY) airport earlier this winter, was found dead along on off-ramp from I-390 close to the airport, the apparent victim of a vehicle collision. We’re grateful to the Monroe County Sheriff’s … Read More
Here, or There?
To stay, or go: That is the question. Stella, one of our transmittered alumni, was originally tagged four years ago, in January 2018 on Amherst Island on the northeastern edge of Lake Ontario. She was a juvenile then, having hatched the previous summer. When she migrated north that spring, she swung wide to the west, up the western shore of … Read More
Late Yul-tide Greetings
The last gift of Yuletide came a little late this year for Project SNOWstorm. On Sunday evening, Jan. 9, we were surprised and delighted to see that Yul — an adult female originally captured at the Montréal airport in November 2019, and named for that airport’s international code, YUL — had just made a late return from the North. What’s … Read More
Columbia and Fond du Lac: An Update
While we’re excited about our two new Québec owls, Nicolet and Odanak, we’re also keeping a close eye on our returnees from past winters, especially two in the upper Midwest, Columbia and Fond du Lac. Columbia, you may recall, returned Nov. 25 and uploaded part of her migration data from last spring, then went dark while her battery recharged. Two … Read More
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