Hello Mike,

Thanks for your reply with info on the plumages of the Oregon birds.
Your age-sex identifications sound exactly as I would have called it
based on the descriptions.

I had nearly forgotten that I did in fact see a single adult male Snowy Owl
at Damon Point, but only on a single day (Jan. 29, I think). This bird
appeared very similar to your bird #4. I wonder if it was the same one,
en route to Oregon? Do you happen to know when bird #4 was first
observed?

I stopped very briefly at SJCR on the way back from a recent trip but
was unable to find any owls. I wasn't exactly sure where to look,
however.

You mentioned that one of the adult males hangs out on the river dune
and actively cruises for Sanderlings. Have you seen these birds hunting
by day? The birds at Damon Point and Boundary Bay seem to forage
exclusively at night (avian prey) and sometimes dusk (rodents). There
are occasional exceptions, and I saw one bird take a horned grebe from
the water in broad daylight.

I'm now kicking myself in the ass for having other obligations that
precluded me from getting on the Snowy Owls early last fall. This would
have been an unprecedented opportunity to use the internet to organize
a large number of people to contribute to a comprehensive regional study
of a Snowy Owl irruption. For some reason, this species continues to
be subject to a large number of popular misconceptions. It would have
been especially fascinating to compare diets at more than just the two
sites. These owls seem to be phenomenally generalized predators
during the winter, taking whatever is locally available (but seemingly with
a particular taste for grebes!). I have unequivocal evidence (from
pellets) that the birds at Damon Point are taking some marine
invertebrates (definitely crab, possibly razor clams and other mollusks).
By the way, do you know if anyone has collected pellets from any
Snowies in Oregon?

Best,

Bob Russell russell at afsc.noaa.gov
NOAA, Seattle