Small Scopes

Brave snowy owls heading south

KARE 11 TV in Minneapolis reports on snowy owls at bit farther south than normal.

Brave birds, these owls:

"Shortly after the birders left, the owl stretched its massive five-foot wings and took flight. It flapped three times then rode the ground effect, gliding for what seemed an impossibly long time just above the earth before landing.

Twenty seconds later, it flew again. This time it landed atop a runway direction sign. And a crow, looking like a sparrow next to the snowy owl, began to harass the larger bird. It flew at it, landed and postured close to the owl and then dive bombed.

The owl didn't seem bothered. Nor did it appear at all ruffled when a Champion Air 727 taxied within 50 feet of the bird.

It sat there, magnificent, as if it were Ruler of the Universe."

They've also been spotted in Oregon:

"They go in cycles," Gleason says. "Every few years big numbers of them start moving farther south. Some of the old literature says that as the lemming population increases up north, so do the snowy owls. Then as the lemming population crashes, they move south."

posted by Tako John @ 9:00 PM