ThinkingAfield.org

Project Snowstorm continues to provide exciting new information revealed by satellite telemetry that shows the movements of individual Snowy Owls. This includes a long-term study of a third-year female Snowy Owl referred to as ‘Stella’ that shows her movements from wintering areas to summer range in the high Arctic, including specific migration routes from 2018 through 2020. This fall, the updated map of her telemetry locations illustrates that this female Snowy began her migration south September 17 after spending the summer on King Edward Island, just north of continental Canada and west of the northern tip of Hudson Bay. After migrating almost directly south, last week her position was in the southeast corner of North Dakota, near the borders of Minnesota and South Dakota.

This interesting Snowy Owl spent the summers of 2018 and 2019 even farther north in Nunavut – on Victoria Island as a yearling in ’18, and on Lougheed Island as a second year bird in ’19 – not far from the North Pole! After taking a pretty straight line series of flights along the west side of Hudson Bay, it continued south through Manitoba, crossing the border into North Dakota November 24.

Where will “Stella” winter this winter? Although this owl migrated to the border between the Dakotas last winter too, for an unknown reason it doubled back north to spend the winter just north of the border in southwest Manitoba. In 2019, this owl wintered in northeast Montana, migrating through Saskatchewan during spring and fall. But to complicate the movement history of this individual Snowy Owl, she was originally observed and fitted with its transmitter in southern Ontario, adjacent to the state of New York. Read more

Winter finches are always a big hit with birders, and to take advantage of this winter’s promise of a big flight of northern finches, you want to be sure you have all the right stuff in your feeding station and yard. If the birds come through, species by species or in mixed flocks, you definitely want to be ready. Overall, we’re talking about such exciting birds as Pine Grosbeaks, Evening Grosbeaks, Red Crossbills, White-winged Crossbills, Purple Finches, Pine Siskins, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Hoary Redpolls and Common Redpolls.

For most of these birds, it’s relatively easy to stock your feeders with foods that will attract them like a magnet – if they make it to your neighborhood. But if one or more of these colorful species stops by, you don’t want to miss the opportunity to try to make them stay, by making your own little oasis with a gourmet table setting. Actually, it’s not gourmet at all, and you may already be providing all they right ingredients. But first of all, a bit of nomenclature discussion. Read more