In this photograph you can see the orange-red coloration is present on the anterior/back side of the Snowy Owl, and its face. The plumage covering the underside of the owl remains normally colored (photos by Julie Maggert).
A closer look at the Snowy Owl shows the level of coloration on individual feathers on its back side and face when perched.
Birders have documented a Snowy Owl with unusual orange-red coloring, complete with photographs, but there is no consensus about how the abnormal color was created. Bill Diller, a birder and photographer living in southeast Michigan, was surprised to hear from a neighbor that a “red-spotted Snowy Owl” was reported in the area of Michigan known as “the Thumb,” where several Snowy Owls can be found during some winters. When Bill managed to take some photographs of the unusually colored owl, he shared some images on social media of the eye-catching owl, which created something of a feathered phenomenon.
The photos perplexed birders, the public, ornithologists, and other experts, creating an enduring mystery about what might have caused the unusual coloration in this majestic owl. When Julie Maggert, a Snowy Owl enthusiast, heard of Diller’s photographs she became determined to see the bird, and hopefully photograph it. She made a series of visits over several days from her home in central Michigan, and after hours of waiting at a respectful distance, she finally managed a documentary photo of the miscolored Snowy Owl perched among an electrical mess on top of a power pole. But it stands as one of the best views of the unusual Snowy Owl. Julie Maggert shared with the New York Times that as she was photographed: “My adrenaline was going crazy, I was so excited!”
Biologists who have studied owls for years struggle to explain the bird’s curious plumage. The most likely first contact was Denver Hold, Director of the Owl Research Institute. Holt has studied Snowy Owls for more than 35 years, has found more than 300 nests and banded more than 800 Snowy Owl nestlings; he wrote in an email to the Times: “We have never seen any plumage aberration, or anything like what is in the photos of the owl.”
Kevin McGraw, a bird coloration expert and biologist at Michigan State University, shared his hypothesis: The owl is colored orange as a result of a genetic mutation driven by environmental stress, such as exposure to pollution. Dr. McGraw said in an email interview with the New York Times that feather samples from the bird were needed to test his and other hypotheses.
Geoffrey Hill, an ornithologist at Auburn University and a co-editor with Dr. McGraw of the book, Bird Coloration (published by Harvard University Press), shared his interpretation: “It seems unlikely that it has spontaneously produced red pigmentation via a genetic mutation. The red coloration seems too red to be caused by” natural pigmentation, Dr. Hill said. “The pigmentation is not very symmetrical and appears on the parts of a normal Snowy Owl that are white.” He surmised that if the bird had a mutation, it would also have changed the owl’s brown markings to orange, and that’s not how the owl is colored. Dr. Hill said he believed it looked more consistent with an external application of a dye.
Scott Weidensaul, an ornithologist, Snowy Owl researcher, and co-founder of Project SnowStorm also dismissed the mutation hypothesis, and ruled out that the owl was marked with dye, which would need to be approved by the United States Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Laboratory. Dr. Weidensaul offered his own suspicions about the bird’s hue: “The most likely explanation is that it was [colored by] de-icing fluid at an airport, since some formulations are that red-orange color,” he wrote in an email.
Birding Wire note: It is interesting to note that when you study the photograph of the Snowy Owl in flight, taken by Julie Maggert, you can see that the plumage covering the underside of the owl is normally colored, while the orange-red coloration covers most of its anterior side of its wings and tail, its back, and its head, including parts of its face. This might suggest the owl was somehow sprayed from behind and it turned its head to the rear during the process. This would underline the possibility that the owl was accidently sprayed with de-icing fluid at an airport, especially considering that the open expanses of airports are seemingly a preferred wintering area for some Snowy Owls in the eastern Great Lakes region, as indicated by SnowStorm tracking information.
