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November 19, 2008

Snowy owls spotted in Northern Tier

Scarce food drives pair of snowy owls into region

By JEFF MEYERS

CHAMPLAIN -- A pair of snowy owls has been sighted in the Northern Tier, causing some excitement, but anxiety as well, in the bird-watching community.

Assistant Wildlife Rehabilitator Rodney LaValley was traveling along a country road Nov. 8 when he spotted the two birds fairly close to one another in a field alongside the road.

"When he came home, he was pretty excited about it," said Donna Fletcher, a wildlife rehabilitator from Chazy and LaValley's partner. "He said they were both on one side of the road, and then one flew to the other side."

Fletcher returned to the site a few days later and spotted one of the owls but could not find the other.

"It was sitting on a fence post, and a northern harrier was dive-bombing it," she said. "It was very interesting to see.

"But I'm a little concerned because some people hunt in the fields up there, and someone might accidentally shoot the owl. They are pretty close in color to snow geese."

FOOD SEARCH
Snowy owls are native to the Arctic, and a sighting in the North Country is usually more common later in the winter.

"It's the earliest they've been seen in Clinton County, but they have been spotted in other parts of the region as early as October," said Mike Peterson from High Peaks Audubon and a well-known regional bird expert.

"There has been a significant die-off of small rodents in eastern Canada, forcing the owls south in search of food. It's a periodic destination, but it's exciting when it happens."

According to regional birding enthusiast William Krueger, the last major influx of snowy owls was during the winter of 1991-92, when a similar drop in the birds' native food supply occurred.

"We had an invasion that year. In Plattsburgh alone, seven snowy owls were spotted. We typically never get seven in the whole county."

Krueger said it wasn't unusual to see one or two snowy owls across the region in most winters, though a larger number of sightings does mean they're having a more difficult time surviving the rugged environment of northern Canada and the Arctic.

"They are a hardy species and don't get this far south on some winters, but we'll typically see a few every two out of three years."

YOUNGER OWLS
Spotting two of the birds at once was an unusual experience.

"They're usually pretty well spread out," said long-time birding enthusiast Charles Mitchell. "Usually, there are isolated reports of individual sightings."

Fletcher said these two birds seemed to be immature owls because they had some gray on their wings, though their heads were "as white as could be."

She was hesitant to say where they were spotted, but it was on farmland near Lakeshore Road.

If their early presence means anything, more sightings could be on the horizon as winter approaches.

jmeyers@pressrepublican.com

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