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PITTSBURG —
It’s hard to miss a snowy owl when you see it, since they’re among the largest birds in North America. Trouble is, they generally live in the Arctic tundra, so most Americans don’t often get to see them, unless they go to a Harry Potter movie.
That has changed this winter as increasing numbers of the birds have ventured south. Now they’re in this area.
“There have been about 95 sighted in Kansas so far,” said Robert Mangile, Pittsburg, a very active member of the Sperry-Galligar Audubon Society.
He’s among those who have seen a snowy owl, and got a photo of one perched on a Restricted Conservation Area sign near Asbury, Mo.
“We went on a field trip and lucked out,” he said. “There it was standing on the sign blinking its eyes at us.”
Mangile said that this is an irruption year. Irruption is the term applied when birds that don’t normally winter in a particular area begin showing up in significant numbers. The likely reason is the food supply.
“Either the birds from up north run out of food, or there was so much food that more birds survived and there were so many birds that some started coming south,” he explained. “An irruption like this is not something exceedingly rare, but it only happens about every 50 years.”
Snowy owls normally feed on small mammals, such as lemmings or voles, but aren’t too particular when food is scarce.
Adult male snowy owls are nearly pure white, but younger ones have black barring. Based on that, it’s thought that many of those coming south are younger individuals, possibly because the adults have claimed the best hunting territories.
The long flight and poor food has probably been a huge strain on the birds.
“They seem to think that the owls here are so emaciated and exhausted that they die,” Mangile said. “But that’s debatable, because others say that some they have seen appear to be healthy.”
He said that the bird near Asbury has been seen by many, but he hasn’t spoken to anyone who has seen it in recent days.
“A few I’ve talked to went over to see it, but they didn’t,” Mangile said. “You know, people will come 150 miles to see something like that. They call it chasing birds.”
He said that dedicated birders communicate over the Internet and even share GPS coordinates where rare birds have been spotted.
Bird watching and taking photos from a distance is fine, but Mangile warned against attempting to capture a snowy owl or shoot one. It’s not even legal to possess one without a special permit.
“They are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act,” Mangile said. “You don’t want to mess with federal stuff like that.”
It’s hard to miss a snowy owl when you see it, since they’re among the largest birds in North America. Trouble is, they generally live in the Arctic tundra, so most Americans don’t often get to see them, unless they go to a Harry Potter movie.
That has changed this winter as increasing numbers of the birds have ventured south. Now they’re in this area.
“There have been about 95 sighted in Kansas so far,” said Robert Mangile, Pittsburg, a very active member of the Sperry-Galligar Audubon Society.
He’s among those who have seen a snowy owl, and got a photo of one perched on a Restricted Conservation Area sign near Asbury, Mo.
“We went on a field trip and lucked out,” he said. “There it was standing on the sign blinking its eyes at us.”
Mangile said that this is an irruption year. Irruption is the term applied when birds that don’t normally winter in a particular area begin showing up in significant numbers. The likely reason is the food supply.
“Either the birds from up north run out of food, or there was so much food that more birds survived and there were so many birds that some started coming south,” he explained. “An irruption like this is not something exceedingly rare, but it only happens about every 50 years.”
Snowy owls normally feed on small mammals, such as lemmings or voles, but aren’t too particular when food is scarce.
Adult male snowy owls are nearly pure white, but younger ones have black barring. Based on that, it’s thought that many of those coming south are younger individuals, possibly because the adults have claimed the best hunting territories.
The long flight and poor food has probably been a huge strain on the birds.
“They seem to think that the owls here are so emaciated and exhausted that they die,” Mangile said. “But that’s debatable, because others say that some they have seen appear to be healthy.”
He said that the bird near Asbury has been seen by many, but he hasn’t spoken to anyone who has seen it in recent days.
“A few I’ve talked to went over to see it, but they didn’t,” Mangile said. “You know, people will come 150 miles to see something like that. They call it chasing birds.”
He said that dedicated birders communicate over the Internet and even share GPS coordinates where rare birds have been spotted.
Bird watching and taking photos from a distance is fine, but Mangile warned against attempting to capture a snowy owl or shoot one. It’s not even legal to possess one without a special permit.
“They are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act,” Mangile said. “You don’t want to mess with federal stuff like that.”
