Many snowy owls are on the move
- Michelle Wood: SWCD
- December 1, 2017
- 1243
I headed east on Oct. 29 from our home in Goshen, Indiana. My route followed rural roads through farming country, south of Middlebury and then Shipshewana.
At the small town of Emma, I continued east for another mile and then turned north on a gravel road where a snowy owl had been reported for the last three days. I spent some time scanning the harvested corn and soybean fields until I saw a white spot far in the distance.
The spotting scope was no help since heat waves were intense. I then drove around the corner to a point where I could see the field from a different angle. From there I had a good view of the snowy owl, perched on the ground in a low spot near the middle of the bean field. A day earlier the owl had been seen about a mile to the north, quite close to the road.
Before writing this column. I checked out the various online posts in Ohio as well as calling several bird hotlines. All of them featured reports of snowy owls. Excellent photos accompanied most of the Facebook posts.
It seems a bit strange to have all these snowy owl reports this week when the temperature here in Goshen reached 65 F on the 28th, and we’ve had five straight days of sunshine. The first report I found referred to a snowy owl seen at Presque Isle, Pennsylvania, not far east of the Ohio border. That bird was observed on Nov. 12.
Local birders probably have heard about the snowy owl that was first discovered on the 25th and was still present on the 29th. That owl has been along County Road 207 in Holmes County. Evidently it has been fairly easy to get good looks at that owl. There also was a report of a snowy near Canton and another one in Harrison County.
More snowy owls have showed up along the Lake Erie shoreline. Two were seen on the same day at Fairport Harbor, and one was still there the next day (29th). At the Lorain harbor, three birders were looking at some common redpolls when they looked up and saw a snowy owl quite close above them.
An injured snowy owl was found near Sandusky. It was taken to a rehabilitation center, where wing surgery was successful and the bird was doing well. East of Toledo at Metzger Marsh, Rick Nirschl photographed an owl on the rocks close to Lake Erie.
Nobody knows how many more snowy owls have gone undetected. We do know that this is a very good November showing for the welcome northern visitors.
There have been some other interesting sightings recently. A golden eagle was found at The Wilds. Even though this has become an annual wintering location for golden eagles, it is always amazing to see one in Ohio.
Snow geese and Ross’s geese have been found at several locations including birds on the ground as well as fly-bys. On the 28th a late greater yellowleg was at the Shreve fish ponds, and a marsh wren was located at nearby Clark Road.
And finally, red crossbills have been reported at several places including Clear Fork Reservoir, south of Mansfield.
Call the Bobolink Area Bird Hotline at 574-642-1335 for current updates.
Good birding!
Bruce Glick can be reached at birderbruce@yahoo.com or 330-317-7798.