This winter (2021) marked the first time a Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) was spotted in New York City’s Central Park in 130 years. Why was it there? Where did it come from? Since 99.9% of the population immediately just thinks of Harry Potter when Snowy Owls are mentioned, the guys wanted to cast the proverbial “Lumos!” and shed some light on the subject.
Join them and guest Daniel Mlodozeniec (photographer and naturalist) as they delve into the Snowy Owl’s ecology in part 1. Then, in part 2, come along as they look into the research behind what drives Snowy Owl irruptions, those irregular migrations that cause Snowies to end up in Central Park and even in places like Bermuda and Hawaii!
This episode was recorded on February 1, 2021 in Buffalo, NY at the Erie Basin Marina (part 1) and Tifft Nature Preserve (part 2).
Special thanks to Dan for getting up early and joining us for a cold, cold four hours! Check out the link to his work below.
Episode Notes
For items mentioned in part 1 of this episode, please see the episode notes page for part 1.
Bill mentioned Frank Chapman as the originator of the Christmas Bird Count, but he failed to give any context. Here’s an excerpt from the Audubon Society’s “History of the Christmas Bird Count”:
Prior to the turn of the 20th century, hunters engaged in a holiday tradition known as the Christmas "Side Hunt."* They would choose sides and go afield with their guns—whoever brought in the biggest pile of feathered (and furred) quarry won.
Conservation was in its beginning stages in that era, and many observers and scientists were becoming concerned about declining bird populations. Beginning on Christmas Day 1900, ornithologist Frank M. Chapman, an early officer in the then-nascent Audubon Society, proposed a new holiday tradition—a "Christmas Bird Census" that would count birds during the holidays rather than hunt them.
*As a side note, Bill wonders if these “side hunts” really occurred. The only reference to this tradition he has ever seen is in articles talking about how the Christmas Bird Count got started. This raises his “skeptical spidey-sense”. Did these side hunts actually take place? Is this just an apocryphal idea that has been repeated and spread over the last century because of the Christmas Count? Bill would love to get to the bottom of this, and he asks that if any listeners have or could find any accounts of these “side hunts” (apart from references related to the Christmas Bird Count), he would be very grateful if they would pass them along.
Links / Picture Credit
Dan’s Instagram: into_the_wild_photography2018 / This episode’s cover photo is also by Dan!
Click here to find out more about Springtails.
Watch Steve’s old YouTube show: Lookin’ At It: A Nature Show. This link will take you to the episode focused on Snowy Owls, but there are several other episodes to enjoy!
Matt Candeias’s book, In Defense of Plants, is available here.
Nature Out Loud! plays upbeat, fun, family friendly tunes inspired by the wild world all around us. Check out their website and their YouTube channel.
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Thank you to Always Wandering Art (Website and Etsy Shop) for providing the artwork for Part 1, as well as the art for many of our previous episodes!
Works Cited
Snowy Owl sounds from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology / Macaulay Library
Chang, A.M. and Wiebe, K.L., 2018. Habitat selection by wintering male and female Snowy Owls on the Canadian prairies in relation to prey abundance and a competitor, the Great Horned Owl. Journal of Field Ornithology, 89(1), pp.64-77.
Curk, T., McDonald, T., Zazelenchuk, D., Weidensaul, S., Brinker, D., Huy, S., Smith, N., Miller, T., Robillard, A., Gauthier, G. Chamberlin, M.L., 1980. Winter hunting behavior of a snowy owl in Michigan. The Wilson Bulletin, pp.116-120.
and Lecomte, N., 2018. Winter irruptive Snowy Owls (Bubo scandiacus) in North America are not starving. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 96(6), pp.553-558.
Fuller, M., Holt, D. and Schueck, L., 2003. Snowy owl movements: variation on the migration theme. In Avian migration (pp. 359-366). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Gessaman, J.A., 1972. Bioenergetics of the snowy owl (Nyctea scandiaca). Arctic and Alpine Research, 4(3), pp.223-238.
Gross, A.O., 1947. Cyclic invasions of the snowy owl and the migration of 1945-1946. The Auk, 64(4), pp.584-601.
Heggøy, O., Aarvak, T., Øien, I.J., Jacobsen, K.O., Solheim, R., Zazelenchuk, D., Stoffel, M. and Kleven, O., 2017. Effects of satellite transmitters on survival in Snowy Owls Bubo scandiacus.
Holt, D.W. and Zetterberg, S.A., 2008. The 2005 to 2006 Snowy Owl irruption migration to western Montana. Northwestern Naturalist, 89(3), pp.145-151.
Koenig, W.D. and Knops, J.M., 2001. Seed‐crop size and eruptions of North American boreal seed‐eating birds. Journal of Animal Ecology, 70(4), pp.609-620.
McCrary, M.D., Bloom, P.H., Porter, S. and Sernka, K.J., 2019. Facultative Migration: New Insight from a Raptor. Journal of Raptor Research, 53(1), pp.84-90.
Robillard, A., Gauthier, G., Therrien, J.F. and Bêty, J., 2018. Wintering space use and site fidelity in a nomadic species, the snowy owl. Journal of Avian Biology, 49(5), pp.jav-01707.
Robillard, A., Therrien, J.F., Gauthier, G., Clark, K.M. and Bêty, J., 2016. Pulsed resources at tundra breeding sites affect winter irruptions at temperate latitudes of a top predator, the snowy owl. Oecologia, 181(2), pp.423-433.
Santonja, P., Mestre, I., Weidensaul, S., Brinker, D., Huy, S., Smith, N., Mcdonald, T., Blom, M., Zazelenchuck, D., Weber, D. and Gauthier, G., 2019. Age composition of winter irruptive Snowy Owls in North America. Ibis, 161(1), pp.211-215.
Solheim, R., 2012. Wing feather moult and age determination of Snowy Owls Bubo scandiacus.
Therrien, J.F., Gauthier, G., Pinaud, D. and Bêty, J., 2014. Irruptive movements and breeding dispersal of snowy owls: a specialized predator exploiting a pulsed resource. Journal of Avian biology, 45(6), pp.536-544.
Winter, R.E., 2016. Hunting Behaviors and Foraging Success of Winter Irruptive Snowy Owls in New York.