Hi Tweets,

It would seem unlikely that any influence by oil exploration or human
changes in those areas in the past year would affect the Snowy Owl
population across the whole of Canada. Since the irruption seems to be
occurring across the whole of the North American Continent it seems that
some cyclical crash of food base would be the reason. However, food need not
be gone or in decline, simply unavailable. Tracking snow depth across the
northern latitudes could prove interesting.
Cyclical, or otherwise abnormal, weather conditions may also play a part in
these irruptions. There is much conjecture, even among scientists.
Irruptions such as the ongoing Snowy Owl irruption have occurred in the
past, even prior to the commercialization of the North Slope. They have been
documented even prior to global warming concerns.
Global warming will eventually have the effect of causing warmer climes to
the north that will hold more moisture than super-chilled air. This moisture
will return to the earth as snow. As snow depths increase it will be
increasingly difficult for those that make their living northward to find
food, even if it is abundant, under the snow. Great Gray Owls and Snowy Owls
make their living with the snow, but even they have limitations.
Last year saw unprecedented irruptions of Great Gray and Northern Hawk
Owls. This year Snowy Owls have appeared in unusual numbers across the
northern contiguous 48 states and the numbers continue to increase. It will
take study and time to determine what is causing these irruptions, if
anything, or if it is just a cyclical pattern that will continue to occur on
an infrequent basis.

Cheers

Doug Schonewald
Moses Lake, WA
dschone8 at donobi.net
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