Bird enthusiasts are reporting rising numbers of snowy owls from the Arctic winging into the lower 48 states this winter in a mass southern migration that a leading owl researcher called “unbelievable.”
Thousands of the snow-white birds, which stand 2 feet tall with 5-foot wingspans, have been spotted from coast to coast, feeding in farmlands in Idaho, roosting on rooftops in Montana and soaring over shorelines in Massachusetts.
A certain number of the huge owls fly south from their Arctic breeding grounds each winter but rarely do so many venture so far away, even amid large-scale, periodic southern migrations known as irruptions.
(READ the Reuters story from MSNBC)