Snowy Owl Movement

44 Snowy Owls sighted today on Amherst Island, Ontario Canada by a local birder. They are moving back from their United States locations and are heading up north for the upcoming birding season. Amherst Island is a good place for them to stop to gather some energy for the next leg of their journey. And they want to put a wind farm on Amherst Island, go figure.

06Honda wrote:44 Snowy Owls sighted today on Amherst Island, Ontario Canada by a local birder. They are moving back from their United States locations and are heading up north for the upcoming birding season. Amherst Island is a good place for them to stop to gather some energy for the next leg of their journey. And they want to put a wind farm on Amherst Island, go figure.

Yes, they are on the move.  These snowy owls may be moving northeast toward the Ottawa area soon (I have been told by those who know).  Infact, 11 were counted on the ice today in Ottawa.  There are still snowy owls down in the USA. 


PS.  Some birders are finding a good number of northern saw-whet owls at particular areas in eastern Ontario too.  These owls have also been on the move back north.

I just read a report from the Eastern U.P. here in Michigan that there were 61 Snowy Owls, 103 Rough-legged Hawks, 20 Northern Harriers, and a whole bunch of other raptors counted yesterday. That is all around Pickford and Rudyard, about a 5 hour drive north for me.

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Good article on the last 2 winters large movement of snowy owls. Of lemmings, rodents, duck hunting and other behaviours. http://www.livescience.com/50102-snowy-owls-southern-migration.html


Longer article from Audubon.
https://www.audubon.org/magazine/march-april-2014/with-so-many-snowies-study-scientists-are

Excerpt.
“Lemmings were everywhere,” he said. Snowy owls were nesting in dense pockets, almost like small colonies; it’s likely that owls from across the Canadian Arctic had converged in that region to profit from the lemming peak. The owls’ success was off the charts, Therrien said. Instead of fledging just one to three chicks, as is normal, each nest was pumping out six, seven, or eight fat babies, full to bursting with as many lemmings as the chicks could eat."

"Snowies will tackle almost anything with fur or feathers, from rats to feral cats to skunks and muskrats and birds—especially birds."


PS.  Although it's still summer, I'm already looking forward to owl season    Owl season actually starts in a few weeks here as northern saw-whet owls start moving southward. And with all the snowy owls that have shown up the last 2 winter, they have to go somewhere again this coming winter.  Time will tell.

Finch forecast due out for Fall-Winter 2015-2016 in about a week.  I expect it any time from September 19 to 23.

It is late this year which is uncharacteristic and definitely not the norm.  Normally it is published close to the beginning of Fall.  Well, I expect it out soon from now until the annual OFO meeting. 

Was checking the fall saw-whet owl banding stats at PEPTBO and they've been netting more than the usual number of Barred Owls this fall. Barred Owls do tend to show up near banding nets from time to time (maybe drawn there because saw-whet owls are a source of food). I will assume if a Barred Owl is caught in the netting they will band it too. And if the same owl showed up again they would indicate it is a recapture. But that is not indicated so it must be new Barred Owls they are capturing and banding. I wonder if we're going to have a good Barred Owl season like a number of years ago at Presqu'ile Provincial Park? I remember that fall and winter fondly as did many others with at least 11 Barred Owls counted at the park.

Will we have a fourth good year of snowy owls? One birder doesn't think so but I never did get his reasoning for why he said that. So, I'll dismiss that comment for now. While saw-whet owls are migrating southward which is normal this time of the year, I haven't heard much in the way of other northern owls. It's still too early. A few Northern Hawk Owls have been sighted but these could simply be birds that showed up last winter and didn't move too far back north. I can't wait to see my first Northern Hawk Owl this year as I finally have a camera capable of capturing its speedy flight.

Although this upcoming winter is the fourth year in a typical 4-year cycle where Great Gray Owls, Boreal Owls and Northern Hawk Owls show up in good numbers, it is still too early to tell yet if it will be a 4 year cycle or 5 year cycle (as it occasionally does) this time around. Once we get into mid-November to early December we'll have a better idea. The weather is still too warm and nice right now. However, a birder did note the lack of voles while surveying birds up north this summer. And every year the Algonquin Park Wildlife Research Station conducts a small mammal population survey and their numbers may be indicative of a good or average year for owls. Nevertheless, hail to winter owl season. It will soon be upon us.

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I haven't posted because it's been a slow snowy owl fall so far.  There is the odd one here and there in the expected locations.  Although still too early to tell, it doesn't appear to be a winter of abundant snowy owl like the last 3 years.  But all you need are a few anyway.  Once we get some heavy snow and cold we may start to see more.  Someone reported one in the east end of Ottawa.  I will be checking the west end again soon.  The past couple of weekends I have come up empty there. You have to explore eBirds or you will miss out on 95% of the owl sightings.  

A few northern hawk owls around already and this species normally does start to move in November as mentioned above.  If this winter is going to be an irruption winter for boreal owls (this winter is on the 4-year cycle), it may be more like winter 2008-2009 rather than the big one we had in winter 2012-2013.  In winter 2008-2009, great gray owls didn't show up this far south until January once we had deep snow cover. But again, the weather has been too nice up to now so hard to tell.  But last fall it was very nice too and we alrady had a number of snowy owls in Ottawa.  In the meantime, I am hoping to photograph northern hawk owl very soon.  My favourite owl to photograph.

Update.
Awesome northern hawk owl. I only spent an hour or so photographing it but what a great experience.  The streak continues as this is the tenth year in a row where I have seen at least one northern hawk owl.  Finally, a camera worthy of capturing this speedy flier.

Update.
All we needed was a bit of snow.  One part of Ottawa that has always been good for snowy owls, in the east end or Orleans area has a few snowy owls reported now.  Usually the roads that run off Frank Kenny such as Wall, French Hill, Regimbald and Giroux has snowy owls and this fall is no different with 3 in the same area.