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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,392 Likes: 4
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 69,392 Likes: 4 |
A couple of damn birds can't even take a vacation anymore! Paparazzi with bird books and binocs.
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 31,619 Likes: 4
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 31,619 Likes: 4 |
I never knew about the bad luck thing. Is that with all owls or just the snowy's? We had a snowy one sitting in the stands at Lambeau Field, so maybe there is something to that bad luck thing. They had to shoot a snowy at the Appleton airport a couple weeks back because they couldn't get it to leave and it was too close to the runway. Caused quite an uproar with the local birders. Do you northern guys see many of those great gray owls? I've only ever seen two and they are huge. One of our birder friends from Illinois said that she would get on a plane to fly to where she could see one. The old story of the old people in the southeast told that the great Sun made owl ( who at the time was the messanger of the Great Sun) the harbinger of death to all the animals in the world. This was done because of Owl's thinking he could speak for the Great Sun without his councel. Great Sun found out what Owl was up to. Hence owl descends upon the animals without making a sound and delivers his message of death. Thats kinda the Readers Digest condensed version. Thats what the old people say, anyway.
Founder
Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison?
And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools,
Being native burghers of this desert city,
Should in their own confines with forked heads
Have their round haunches gored."
WS
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 43,763
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 43,763 |
Saw one in Northern Nebraska about 10 years back sitting on top of a hay bale during deer season. Gorgeous birds.
“ The Savage 99 Pocket Reference”. All models and variations of 1895’s, 1899’s and 99’s covered. Also dates, checkering, engraving.. Find at www.savagelevers.com
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 16,393 Likes: 1
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 16,393 Likes: 1 |
Y'all are slippin' - 22 posts, and not ONE mention of global warming (until now). I'm proud of y'all! 
I've always been a curmudgeon - now I'm an old curmudgeon.
~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 23,319
Campfire Ranger
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OP
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 23,319 |
With all that food supply, the second born young ends up living as well. When it gets time to fend for yourself there is not enough food which causes this big invasion (in the United States). They are stressed just trying to survive.”
Thats the problem with dimocraps. Too much food stamps and the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th.... ends up living aas well.  I saw what you did there!
"All that the South has ever desired was that the Union, as established by our forefathers, should be preserved, and that the government, as originally organized, should be administered in purity and truth." – Robert E. Lee
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 37,909 Likes: 2
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 37,909 Likes: 2 |
The official latest word on wintering snowy owls, from that sacred oracle: the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (via their Birds of North America Online subscriber site). Historically it was thought that most Snowy Owls migrating south from Arctic breeding grounds died from starvation on their wintering grounds. Suggesting this myth were: the ‘crashes' or population declines in small mammals (i.e. lemmings) that drove the migrations, the energetic demands of migration, and competition among the owls on their wintering grounds. It was also believed that many Snowy Owls arrived on their wintering grounds in semi-starved condition. This popular thinking, buttressed by some media reports and a small body of scientific literature, has endured. Bent (1938), however, provided convincing evidence that this myth is false; he cited several sources to prove that many Snowy Owls live through the winter and return in following years to the same or other wintering sites.
Recent data suggest survival is the norm; there is no evidence that large numbers of owls die in the northern great plains of Canada or the U.S., or even in intermountain valleys of the northwestern U.S. Some adults are known to return to the same wintering areas in ensuing years, far south of their breeding range. At Logan Airport, Boston, MA, most owls appear in good condition on their wintering grounds, particularly during irruption migrations when the bulk of the wintering population is young owls in their first year of life.
Of the Snowy Owls that do die on their winter grounds, most are killed by humans. Of 71 wintering Snowy Owls where cause of death could be determined, 61 (86%) died from trauma (shooting, collisions with autos and unknown objects, and electrocution), with only 10 (14%) from apparent starvation.
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 43,763
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 43,763 |
Birdwatcher, we had a large influx of snowy owls a few years ago and a lot of them were in bad shape. Raptor rescue centers got a bunch, others were found already dead or too far gone. So the migrations south can be hard on them, or they are already in bad shape before they take off. http://journalstar.com/special-sect...8639661-19d7-5cfc-91ee-9aef5abece0b.html
Last edited by Calhoun; 12/19/17.
“ The Savage 99 Pocket Reference”. All models and variations of 1895’s, 1899’s and 99’s covered. Also dates, checkering, engraving.. Find at www.savagelevers.com
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 22,884
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 22,884 |
We see them every winter here. But haven't seen any yet this year.
We have a few great grays around once in awhile that I've seen too.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 29,881 Likes: 6
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 29,881 Likes: 6 |
Neat birds and a rarity here appearing about every 5 or so years. If word gets out, one will have the avid birders from several surrounding states showing up to add them to their lists. Last one that visited here was a very efficient hunter. It would pretty much sit and wait, then fly out 20 or 30 yds and snag a meadow vole on every try. Thought we would sit and watch it tear things apart, but it tossed it up and it went down the pipe head first whole. Huge mouth, and they have a great appreciation for good one liners. ![[Linked Image]](https://s25.postimg.org/6qrgnyulr/Snowy2.jpg)
Last edited by 1minute; 12/19/17.
1Minute
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 94
Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 94 |
Saw one here in central Nebraska last week bird hunting. Bumped it out of a small draw of CRP and sat on a fence post long enough for us to get a little closer look before taking off.
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 37,909 Likes: 2
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 37,909 Likes: 2 |
Ya, I'm generally familiar with all that and woulda thought starvation too. Such is apparently the case with great grey owls when they irrupt. OTOH great grey owls are specialized small rodent hunters, actually quite slender and skinny under all those feathers, averaging only about half the weight of a snowy or great horned owl. Snowies are close kin to the great-horned, Basically a snowy is like a slightly heavier great-horned owl with white feathers, and like great-horned owls can prey on a bunch of stuff besides lemmings and small rodents. Some of even winter out on the winter ice around polar bears, preying on seabirds and marine ducks and scavenging polar bear kills. The thing is, the many species accounts on the Cornell Lab's "Birds of North America" website are all written by different authors, ostensibly the most qualified in the field. Turns out the primary authors on the "Snowy Owl" species account also run this place, the Owl Research Institute.... https://www.owlresearchinstitute.org/..and their species account on the Cornell website is backed up by an astounding 241 citations, most all from peer-reviewed journals. If nothing else, those folks are dead serious about their ornithology.
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
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