Tuesday, November 26, 2013

What Are Snowies Up To This Winter?

Snowy Owl, Chippewa County, Michigan, February 2013
Here's an interesting look at Snowy Owl (Bubo scadiacus) reports for November of the past seven years. 2011 was the greatest Snowy irruption in many birders' memories. I'm curious what the distribution this year means. A higher-than-usual amount of sightings, but much more clustered on the Atlantic coast. This is more reminiscent of 2008. The 2011 irruption appears centered on the Great Lakes, with a lot of that spilling over into fall of 2012 - an echo of the great irruption? So, what's going on this year, and why?

All images are screen grabs from eBird

2007 - November

2008 - November

2009 - November

2010 - November

2011 - November

2012 - November

2013 - November