Subject: [Tweeters] re: Snowy Owl irruption years
Date: Nov 14 16:22:06 2012
From: Scott Downes - downess at charter.net


Isadora and other tweets,
Quite a few of the large documented flights of snowy owls to Washington have been met with an echo flight in the subsequent winter. For some data, I opened up my Birds of Washington and am quoting from the account on Snowy Owls, page 214:

1916-1917 statewide flight of at least 1000 birds. The next winter of 1917-1918 was met with a coastal echo flight of at least 250 birds.

1974-1975 had a statewide flight of at least 200 birds and an echo flight the following year, also statewide, of 50-100 birds.

1984-1985 had a flight of 50-75 birds, mostly in western Washington and a Westside echo flight the following winter of 22 birds.

There were also flights in 1889-1890, 1896-1897, 1966-1967 and 1996-1997 where no echo flight was seen. The pre-1950 data was derived from Jewett et al, 1953.

Scott Downes
downess at charter.net
Yakima WA