Hello, tweeters.

Bud asked for more Snowy Owl stories.

I remember the winter of 74-75, when they seemed to be everywhere, including sitting on telephone poles ini residential sections of Seattle and on the roof opposite my office at UW, where a spotting scope set up on the bird had visitors throughout the days it was present. I can't recall now whether that was the winter or a subsequent one when on one visit we could see >50 from one spot on the dike at Boundary Bay, which has always been the hotspot for Snowies.

One interesting thing about them in this area is that water birds represent an important part of their diet. They go out over the water, probably mostly at dusk, and pick off birds such as Buffleheads and Horned Grebes and probably larger species as well. They take Dunlins, Red Phalaropes, and other shorebirds. By no means are they restricted to lemmings and voles, although they may get some in the stomachs of those Short-eared Owls they'll be hunting.

Dennis
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Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net