The Lovely Snowy Owl has been my top US bird target for several years. This is the Harry Potter Owl that doesn’t actually live in the UK, but in the Canadian and Alaska Tundra. It likes to sit on the ground, surveying potential prey.
In the Winter, these Owls travel South to the Northern US States, even known to visit NYC and Chicago. I have pursued these creatures in NY and Chicago with no luck.
We were just back a few weeks from our Antarctica trip when we saw on the news and birding emails that a Snowy Owl had shown up in our Orange County! It was located on a Cyprus neighborhood rooftop, a 45 minute drive from our home, and with Christmas obligations we were unable to get to it until December 27th. Until then we followed it closely on the news and saw that when it relocated, I was only a few roofs away.
On the 27th, our drive quickly took us up to the Cyprus neighborhood, and when we closed in on the address, we saw a big crowd, of maybe two hundred individuals milling on the street and gazing at a rooftop. As we walked to that spot, I immediately spotted a good friend and birding guide, John Dunn, who I went to greet, just as he was finishing a live interview with a local news channel. They turned to me and asked where I was from, looking for an individual who had traveled a long way to see this bird. They were disappointed by my answer, being a “local”, but I was on the air!
Each year, birders try to view tough to find birds as early in the year as possible, before they fly away. So on January 3rd, I started a long day of birding with a return trip to Cyprus. The Owl had moved a couple of blocks, but the big crowds made it easy to re-find the bird. Unlike the first visit, I took a few photos and left, the bird was getting too much attention already. A week later the Owl disappeared, presumably deciding to fly North towards its usual habitat.
There are many theories about how the Owl got so far off course. A popular one is that it hitched a ride on a ship heading South. It’s not unusual for these birds to fly over open Ocean, skirting the shoreline, but to fly this far would be highly unusual. It will remain mystery, but this big white Owl, with feathery legs and feet, was a treat to see and photograph!
