Jim Acton in Spokane has been undertaking a particular census in Lincoln County
for about 25 years now. If I remember right, he says he has detected Snowy Owls
in about the same numbers almost every year. I believe he has said he cannot
seem to correlate years in which large numbers show up in sw BC or nw WA with
his counts. It seems to me that Snowy Owls are regular in eastern WA in very
small numbers every year. With the "Columbia Basin Reclamation" project, there
are now many thousands of acres of open terrain that might attract a Snowy.
Just a thought - an analysis of prey they take would make a wonderful study. Is
it any coincidence they winter near 100,000 to 150,000 ducks? In sw BC,
waterfowl were found to be a major food of wintering Snowy Owls on the sw coast
(see Birds of BC by Campbell et al.).
Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA