It is my understanding that Snowies are rather cyclical, essentially tied to prey abundance.? The prey being primarily rodents which are also cyclical.? When the rodent numbers are up, the owls produce a lot of young.? Winter being a hard time to find food the young ones, which make up the bulk of irruptions, move south to look for food.

?

When the rodent numbers crash, winter again is a difficult time, so what is left moves south looking for food.?

?

I would expect that climate change, at least in the warmer direction, would produce more food for the owls in the summer.? That could lead to enhanced annual production which would lead to more birds looking for winter food.


Hal Michael
Olympia WA
360-459-4005 (H)
ucd880 at comcast.net

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wendy Thuring " < wendy _ thuring at hotmail .com>
To: tweeters at u. washington . edu
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 10:08:27 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] SNOWY OWLS IRRUPTION YEAR - THE SEQUEL??

Just curious..... ?Are any of you just as shocked, yet giddy with excitement as I am, that our magical and beautiful white feathered friends appear to be making this another exciting irruption year?

At the same time are any of you also worried like I am that the owls are not in as good of shape this year? ? Todays Snowy flying into the window in Tacoma is the third incident/accident they have fallen victim to in less than a week. ? There was the Snowy that was rescued on Capital Hill this morning, and the one found dead at Ocean Shores on Sunday. ? I am wondering if there is something more going on with their habitat or the lack of food that has sent them south now two years in a row. ?Are these warning signs, or am I worrying over nothing?

Happy Birding!
Wendy



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