Snowy Owl Season in Massachusetts

All the 53 owls captured were in great condition, good body weight
and excellent feather condition. 46 of the owls were hatch year birds
(Owls that were born last summer) and 7 were after hatch year birds
(owls more than 1 year old). There were five snowy owls found dead
this season in Massachusetts, 1 hit by a propeller of a Cape Air
plane at Logan, 1 killed by a jet blast at Logan, 1 found dead on
Deer Island that died from rodenticide poison, 1 found dead at Plum
Island that had a broken wing and 1 found dead at Plum Island that
had a pellet stuck in its throat from the teeth on the lower jaw of a
rat that had perforated the esophagus and the owl could not
regurgitate the pellet and died.

From communication with researchers on Baffin Island over the years
when they have a good lemming year like last summer the owls breed
producing lots of young and that is when we see good owl numbers in
Massachusetts. If in fact these owls were leaving the arctic because
there was no food in the arctic they would probably never make it
here and if they did would not arrive here in good condition.

Over the past 31 years that we have been doing research on snowy owls
the best winter to date was the winter of 1986-87 when we banded 43
snowy owls at Logan Airport. This past winter was the second best
with 42 banded at Logan.

Thanks to the Nuttall Ornithological Club we were able to put a
satellite transmitter on one of the owls to track its movements.
Check out our web site to track this owl.

http://www.massaudubon.org/Birds_and_Birding/snowyowl/index.php

Norman Smith
Sanctuary Director
Mass Audubon Blue Hills Sanctuary
1904 Canton Ave.
Milton, MA 02186
617 333-0690 ext 222
nsmith AT massaudubon.org