Owls - Sounds Wild
Snowy Owl

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Snowy Owl

Crossing the Mendenhall Wetlands on a foggy Sunday morning in October of 2017, a Juneau duck hunter spotted an unusual white bird sitting up in the tall brown marsh grass - a snowy owl. These Arctic raptors are rarely seen in Southeast Alaska, which is well outside their normal range.

Snowy owl sightings outside the Arctic have typically been associated with irruptions. Irruptions occur when non-migratory birds that normally stay in a region like Interior Alaska year-round move long distances. This usually happens in lean winters when food is scarce. That is sometimes true for snowy owls, but biologists are learning there is more to snowy owl irruptions than a search for food. They will travel long distances even when there is plenty of food in the arctic. They're nomadic.

Biologists are also documenting mega-irruptions, extreme events where great numbers of snowy owls leave the Arctic. There was a huge irruption the winter of 2013-2014 and thousands of snowy owls were seen in throughout the Great Lakes region, and all down the Eastern Seaboard as far south as northern Florida.