An interesting story about the increased sightings of snowy owls throughout the country. The first one ever seen in Hawaii was recently killed by USDA Wildlife Services because it was near the Honolulu airport. I know many who have seen them this winter in Idaho and Montana.
Biologists say that there has been a population explosion due to high survival of chicks who gorged on lemmings in the arctic.
Snowy owls soar south from Arctic in rare mass migration
By Laura Zuckerman | Reuters.
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Ken Cole
Ken Cole is a 5th generation Idahoan, an avid fly fisherman, wildlife enthusiast, and photographer. He was formerly the Idaho Director for Western Watersheds Project and former Executive Director for Buffalo Field Campaign.
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I’d like to hear the reasoning behind the killing of the Snowy Owl outside the Honolulu Airport. Honestly.
As I posted elsewhere earlier, some Hawaiian islands but especially Oahu and Kauai are overrun with feral cats and feral chickens. Where’s those darn owls ( any specie ) when you really need them, he says facetiously…
They should probably get some wolves to take care of those feral cows on Hilo too.
Snowy owls are a sight to see and it’s great to see such widespread enuthusiasm for them. But these birds are desperate for food and are forced into areas that are both novel and hostile to them. The mortality will be very high.
I saw one Snowy owl near Nampa, Idaho last week. It was sitting out on a ditch bank in a plowed field. It didn’t look like a great place to find any rodents. I looked again today and didn’t see it.
I was told that there were four of the Snowy owls in the Nampa area.
We had sighting here in Jackson too, not mine but I keep going back to the same spot hoping!
I have seen quite a few of them this year around Polson, MT, in fact one jumped up out of the ditch the other morning and I almost hit it with the car, those were some really big eyes staring at me through the windshield!
Last time I saw one was on White Bird Pass, before dawn, about eight years ago. It was right there on the roadside, kind of started me.
I’d like to see, and maybe get a picture of, one from this cohort.
There is a pair across from my house in nampa id thay are eating my chickens lost six since dec