[TN-Bird] Fwd: Snowy owls in Erie area aid research
- From: David Chaffin <davchaffin@xxxxxxx>
- To: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2014 20:43:02 -0500 (EST)
For those interested in the owl family, and snowy owls in particular, here is
an interesting read.
David Chaffin
Cleveland TN
Bradley Co
Snowy owls in Erie area aid research
BY DANA MASSING, Erie Times-News
dana.massing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
This snowy owl was photographed on Gull Point at Presque Isle State Park on
Dec. 9. JACK HANRAHAN//ERIE TIMES-NEWS
Erie headed out onto the Great Lake of the same name, while Millcreek spent
time around the airport in the township from which his moniker came.
Snowy had to be euthanized after being hit by a car in North East.
Another, nameless, owl was struck and killed by a vehicle on Interstate 79.
All four are part of a snowy owl irruption that has brought record numbers of
the white birds to the U.S. from their home in the Arctic tundra. Whether
living or dead, the owls are important to researchers.
"We will probably not live long enough to see another irruption like this,"
said Pennsylvania author and naturalist Scott Weidensaul, a co-director of
Project SNOWstorm. "We just could not let this opportunity go past."
He said nobody expected the kind of owl invasion that started after
Thanksgiving and will last until late March or April. An abundance of food like
lemmings is believed to lead to more owl eggs and then more birds heading
south. Smaller irruptions happen every few years, but one of this magnitude
doesn't come along for decades, Weidensaul said.
So he and others quickly put together the project that is trying to gather as
much information as possible about the owls. He said SNOWstorm takes its name
from the code that banners and birders use for Snowy Owl.
The project is based at the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art in Millersburg,
about 25 miles north of Harrisburg. Partners include the Pennsylvania Game
Commission.
Project SNOWstorm plans to tag more than 20 owls in seven or eight states,
Weidensaul said.
"Erie is traditionally the hot spot for snowy owls in Pennsylvania, with
Presque Isle (State Park)," he said. "We knew this was the best place in
Pennsylvania to go for snowy owls."
A team caught two on Jan. 19 near Erie International Airport in Millcreek.
"A lot of these birds end up at airports because airports look like home," said
Weidensaul, who wasn't here for the capture.
The owls were taken to Presque Isle's Tom Ridge Environmental Center.
"They were very docile," Erie birder Susan A. Smith said.
Smith was at the Ridge Center, along with Gene Ware, chairman of the Friends of
the Tom Ridge Environmental Center.
Ware said the birds allowed themselves to be cradled in researchers' arms like
a baby, as if they sensed they weren't going to be harmed.
"They are gorgeous birds," he said.
The team took blood samples and "measured everything," including talons, legs,
beaks and wingspans, Ware said. He said the birds were males, 18 to 20 months
old, based on size and markings.
Their names, like those of other project owls, came from the area where they
were caught.
Each had a transmitter from Cellular Tracking Technologies of Somerset placed
on its back. Ware said the devices didn't seem to bother the birds.
The system is similar to the GPS in a car or smart phone, Weidensaul said. An
owl's location is recorded every half-hour. Then every third day, a cellular
network sends a text with data including latitude, longitude and elevation.
One drawback is the birds have to be in range of a cell tower for the
information to be sent.
Erie has ventured beyond tower reach, drifting on windblown ice into the
Canadian waters of Lake Erie, his data shows.
But even when that happens or when the owls eventually head north, transmitters
will continue to log GPS locations, Weidensaul said. If the birds get back in
range, the data will be sent, he said, meaning that Project SNOWstorm could
still be providing the gift of owl information years from now.
Another hiccup is the transmitters are solar powered and don't charge as well
in cloudy weather, Weidensaul said. The owls don't help.
"They always face the sun so the transmitter is in their shade," he said.
Millcreek is even more challenging because he sits with his back against
equipment at the airport, which also blocks out the sun, Weidensaul said.
When information from Erie and Millcreek doesn't come in, "it may well be that
they're out in the middle of Lake Erie," he said.
But researchers also know they're likely to lose some subjects. Philly, the
snowy owl captured and tagged at Philadelphia International Airport, was
relocated 40 miles away for his safety, but returned to the airport, where he
was struck by a plane.
"Snowy owls are fairly naive about humans," Weidensaul said. "They don't
recognize us as a threat. They don't recognize automobiles or airplanes as a
threat."
A car hit one of the owls on Route 5 in North East Township in December. He
survived that encounter and was being treated at Tamarack Wildlife
Rehabilitation and Education Center near Saegertown, where caregivers dubbed
him Snowy. When it was discovered that he had irreparable nerve damage, he had
to be euthanized.
After his death, he was used as a model for Project SNOWstorm and Cellular
Tracking Technologies to develop cases for the transmitters so they wouldn't be
covered by the owls' feathers, Weidensaul said.
"It was a shame that owl died, but it helped us," he said.
One snowy owl that died in Erie County was taken to the Ridge Center.
"The owl will live on in education," said Anne DeSarro, environmental education
specialist supervisor there.
The center and Smith, the local birder, got calls about the owl Tuesday. She
and three naturalists went to I-79 south of Route 20, where they found the dead
bird, believed to be a young male.
"It was clutching a vole in its talons," DeSarro said.
She said that after filling out permits required when obtaining such a bird and
notifying the state Game Commission, the owl was sent to a taxidermist and is
expected back in a month or so.
"Eventually, we hope, as soon as it's done, to have it on display," she said.
DeSarro said officials also hope that taxidermist Tim Schloss can incorporate
the vole, giving the owl the appearance of swooping down on its prey.
While voles and lemmings are known food for snowy owls, Weidensaul said
research spawned by the irruption shows that the birds also feed heavily on
waterfowl like ducks.
He said little is known about how snowy owls live when they come south. Project
SNOWstorm is helping researchers discover details like when the birds move
around and where they hunt.
While Presque Isle is attractive to snowy owls, they've also been seen in other
parts of Erie County, including Fairview Industrial Park, observers said.
Ware remembers two last winter at Presque Isle. This winter, he knows of at
least seven or eight. A popular site is Gull Point, but owls also are elsewhere
around the park.
Park officials said snowy owls are drawing more than the usual number of human
visitors to the peninsula at this time of year.
Most are respectful, content to watch and photograph owls without disturbing
them. But Ware said he's heard of some people throwing rocks at snowy owls so
they'll fly for a better picture.
He said those individuals have quickly been chastised by others in the area who
are respectful of the gorgeous creatures.
Weidensaul said people are so taken with snowy owls because they're "stunningly
beautiful" and, coming from so far away, are mysterious.
He said Project SNOWstorm doesn't plan to return to Erie to tag more snowy
owls, unless it turns out something happened to both Erie and Millcreek.
DANA MASSING can be reached at 870-1729 or by e-mail. Follow her on Twitter at
twitter.com/ETNmassing.
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Susan A. Smith
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Susan A. Smith
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Susan A. Smith
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