Seems like the winter of 2011-12 will experience an invasion of Snowy Owls. A recent map created by Jesse Ellis, Post-doctoral Researcher, Dept. of Zoology, University of Wisconsin – Madison shows sightings of Snowy Owls across the upper Midwest just in the last 3-4 weeks. I saw my first ever Snowy this past Sunday.
Today, I received a Raptor Center call about another Snowy seen along 35E just north of downtown St. Paul. My mother (in town for Thanksgiving) and I grabbed our cameras and took off for a possible rescue attempt. 2 crows helped us find the bird sitting in some tall grass along side an entrance ramp. Several attempts to rescue the bird were unsuccessful and we can only hope that he makes it out of town safely.
