Hi Tweets,

Gerald Hamilton says:
>According to information that I have learned
>from people knowledgable on birds, the Snowys should start to migrate
>back northwards any time now. Perhaps this may explain the 'absence'
>presently from some locations where they have been a regular visitor.
>Since birds don't usually all leave at the *same* time, some groups of
>Snowy Owls may leave later.

Back east in Ontario, they've found that there's a short-term upward
'bounce' in February of numbers of Snowy Owls (SNOW) at some locations as
birds that have wintered further south augment the local wintering
population. Appears that the northbound migration begins pretty much the
same time across the continent, though there may be some subtle differences
in eastern and western populations.

So, as usual, questions arise: do First-winter birds leave wintering
territory before adults? Males before females? More northerly-nesting birds
first or last?

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
mprice at mindlink.net