Banded Snowy Owl in the Duluth Harbor.

The big news this week is the sudden movement of Snowy Owls being found in Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and Michigan.  I truly believe we are seeing the beginnings of a Snowy Owl irruption.  So far in Minnesota most of the Snowy Owl reports are coming from the northwestern section of Minnesota.  Today a Snowy Owl was reported in the Twin Cities where many birders were able to observe this owl and take photos of it.  It looked like one of them was an immature/female plumage type which mean it’s very heavily marked with black feathering.

Its been a while since Minnesota had a Snowy Owl movement and it’s still early.  I suspect we will hearing more reports in the next month or so.  Snowy Owls like open terrain type habitats, but when they move south they are often seen along the shores of Lake Superior, the Duluth harbor, airports and hay fields.  They prey mostly on small rodents like meadow voles and rats when they head south, but if they are hungry I have seen them go after waterfowl and gulls.

Sax-Zim Bog has a lot of good habitat to look for Snowy Owls.  In the past I have seen Snowy Owls along County Road 7 near Byrne’s Greenhouse.  The area near the greenhouse is still good to look for Snowy Owls. There are also a lot of back roads you can take that have good open habitat to look for these owls.  I would suggest the farm areas along County Road 29 north of County Road 133 up to Correction Line road.  Also Dart Road, east or west of County Road 29, has some good open farm fields where you might look for Snowy Owls.  There are also good farm fields worth checking along County Road 52 between the Stickney Road and County Road 7.

If you do see a Snowy Owl please contact me at mlhendrickson@yahoo.com because I would appreciate hearing about any Snowy Owls in the Sax-Zim Bog area.  Its been a long time since I have seen a Snowy Owl away from the Duluth harbor.  Most of the Snowy Owls wintering in the Duluth Harbor area are banded and marked with a special feather paint.  The owl bander puts a green wing tag on the owl with a number on the tag to identify the owl to the bander.  The owl bander then sprays a black feather paint on the back of the head (nape area) and also a black stripe under one of its wings.  Its really sad to look at a black & green Snowy Owl but the owl researcher has been studying  Snowy Owls in the Duluth area since the early 1970′s. I suspect he will continue doing this until he is no longer able to do so. So spotting a Snowy Owl away from the Duluth area is always a treat!

Most of all, spotting a Snowy Owl in the Sax-Zim Bog would be a extra treat for me, but having Snowy Owls winter in the Sax-Zim Bog during the February weekend of the winter birding festival would make a lot of visiting birders very happy!

Good Birding