The snowy owl

[XemaSab]

This winter has seen an irruption of snowy owls in the US. What does it mean to see these Arctic birds so far from home?

Perched on a rocky point along the Maine coast, the snowy owl is languid, a predator without country or concern. The wind and the sleet don’t matter. Crashing waves don’t matter. You don’t matter either. The snowy owl doesn’t care that you’ve driven halfway across winter to see a bird on a rock. The snowy owl doesn’t even know you exist.

So you peer through binoculars and watery eyes at a creature from a place painfully colder than Maine or Ohio or Minnesota, or anywhere else in the US that these Arctic owls are showing up in huge numbers this winter. As it rests, or naps, the owl ignores its role in the Harry Potter legend or even in the drama of a warming planet. Then you cough or curse the wind chill, and the owl spins its head your way.

From a snowy owl’s eyes, the Arctic speaks.

Lemon-yellow laser beams emerge from fluffy white surrounds. They have a hypnotic and seductive force of their own, like bioluminescence or romance. You cannot turn away your gaze because the eyes bring some sort of ancient thrill to your blood and bones. You make eye contact in a way you’ve made with no human being. Vulnerability and inhibition do not exist.

http://aeon.co/magazine/nature-and-cosmos/the-snowy-owl-is-a-messenger-from-the-arctic/

[madokie]

1. Owls are neat birds

they way they turn to watch you move about. Over at our home place there has been a pair living there as long as I can remember. I think they're great horned owls as they're about 2 ft tall, capable of carrying off a mid sized chicken. One of my brothers live over there and he's like me retired and has chickens and he seen one carrying off one of his chickens one day.

[brewens]

2. I live in north central Idaho and since I was a kid, anytime it got down around zero

for any length of time and there was snow on the ground, you could count on seeing them. This hasn't happened frequently, maybe every ten years or so. What's different is you will see this owl hunt in daylight.

[hatrack]

3. We get great horneds regularly, and barred owls are native . . .

But no snowy owls here, alas - too far south, I'm afraid.

What I'd really like to see would be a great gray - with a wingspan of six feet and a bit, now that's an impressive raptor!

[XemaSab]

4. It's not too far south

http://ebird.org/ebird/map/snoowl1?neg=true&env.minX=&env.minY=&env.maxX=&env.maxY=&zh=false&gp=false&ev=Z&mr=1-12&bmo=1&emo=12&yr=all&byr=1900&eyr=2014

[marions ghost]

5. Two snowies are living at Ocracoke Island NC

on the Outer Banks.

The owl irruption is likely due to the arctic owls producing more offspring than the tundra will support so they go south looking for food. I don't think ornithologists have decided what the reason for this particular irruption is --yet. They may have some theories in future. This is a major irruption.

Good article with pix about the island owls at:
http://www.ocracokecurrent.com/79524