Capture of an "injured" Snowy Owl.  The years 2012 and 2014 were "irruption" years for the Snowy Owls.  During irruption years birds from the far north end up in southern Minnesota.  Snowy Owls are birds of the arctic tundra, and they simply should not be here, and yet here they were.  Many of the birds are immature  and may not have highly developed rodent hunting skills.  In March of 2012 one of my rural neighbors called me and said they had a "white owl" in their ditch.  It was a young Snowy Owl that did not move at all.  Not knowing what to make of that we put out a call to owl expert Karla of the Houston, Mn Nature Center.  We described the owl's behavior and she felt it needed to be captured and taken to the Raptor Center on the St. Paul campus of the U of M.  We inquired as to whom was going to capture this bird.  Her reply was-well, why don't you do it.  Right!! Have you seen the talons on these owls?  Karla described the capture method to us and away we went with our high tech blankets and laundry basket in hand.  Ray Potthoff,  Bobbie, and I managed to capture the weak owl with no harm to us or it.  We took it up to the Raptor Center and left the weak bird in their care.  Sadly, it was too weak to survive. The staff at the Raptor Center felt it was a young owl that simply could not catch enough food down here to survive.

There are many theories on why Snowy Owls at times leave their tundra homes and come this far south.  The old theory was they simply had a lack of rodents to eat up there and left for the south.  The latest theory seems to be that hunting on the tundra is so good some years  that the adults are able to hatch out too many young owls for the limited habitat, and this leads to an over population of owls which pushes them south some winters.  2012, 2014, and even to a degree, this year has brought us a winter treat in the form of a Snowy Owl irruption.  We have been "Birding" for almost 50 years now and only saw one Snowy Owl in the first 47 years of birding.  We have seen eight Snowy Owls in the past 3 years and hope to see more this year. There are reports of Snowys in Dodge, Steele, and Mower counties this year.