Feature Story

Snowy Owls in Minnesota This Winter?

Artic Species Has Potential for an Eruption

It’s generally accepted snowy owls tend to move south in numbers to the USA and in particular Minnesota every 4-5 years. Each year a few snowy owls are seen in Minnesota. The north shore is a noted spot. The area surrounding Duluth may harbor a snowy or three and airports are a common snowy owl wintering area. The last time I experienced many snowy owls was 2014. And I do have documentation of quite a few snowy owl sightings in 2019. This year would mark year 5 and many are predicting a snowy owl eruption in Minnesota. Not only because of past patterns but the conditions for breeding on the tundra this summer were very good and many of the baby owls (owlets) survived. The high owlet survival rate has the young owls looking for food and wintering areas.  The young owls can be detected by a considerable amount of dark feathers. I’m speculating, but with some research, that combining more owlets reached juvenile stage and the lower availability of food (poor lemming counts on the tundra) has many snowys flying south in search of wintering areas with a good supply of rodents. During my research I’ve found that snowys are appearing across the northern tier of states already with many seen in November. I’m guessing even more will be spotted in December. Read more…