Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) by Twan Leenders
We have some Snowy Owls sticking around for the long haul, especially near water – even the mostly frozen Lake Erie. This Snowy was at the Chautauqua County/Dunkirk Airport on February 3, 2014 and beautifully photographed by Twan in some light snow. You can even see tiny flakes accumulating around its bright yellow eyes!
Read MoreWhite-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus) by Twan Leenders
Here’s one for Throwback Thursday, a White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus)! Well, sort of. Back in 2010 I had the honor of hosting thousands of birders for nearly 2.5 months from across the continent as they came to Stratford Point in Stratford, Connecticut to see the state’s first White-tailed Kite when Twan and I worked for Connecticut Audubon Society. I learned more about that individual than I ever could have imagined as I observed it for hundreds of hours nearly every day. It was the first for New England since the only other recorded occurred 100 years earlier at...
Read MoreSnowy Owl photos: a day in the life
This is less of a “day” than a 15 or 20 minute period of me photographing and taking video of a Snowy Owl in the southern part of Jamestown, New York during the Christmas Bird Count for the city that took place on December 15, 2013. However, the photos do depict most of what goes on during the day at our latitude for a Snowy Owl. This bird looked to me like an immature male with a lot of barring over the body though not as dark, thick or bold as some are with a rather large white bib. Let’s let it narrate… “Oh, hello there, human. I’m not very interested...
Read MoreSnowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) by Scott Kruitbosch
Here’s a distant record photo of a Snowy Owl on the fence far from Girts Rd. at the Chautauqua County/Jamestown Airport in the late afternoon snow. We watched it take several shots at prey, possibly capturing one or two items, and flying around this section of the airport watching the vehicles clearing runways. It looked healthy and strong and we hope it sticks around to enjoy good hunting.
Read MoreShooting Snowy Owls at airports
By now you have probably heard about this story but at 2:25AM on Monday, December 9 the New York Daily News posted an article detailing Port Authority ‘wildlife specialists’ that were now shooting and killing Snowy Owls at the New York City metro airports. Snowy Owls are currently in the middle of a massive irruption with sightings all over the Great Lakes and Atlantic Coast regions, a movement we thought could be coming even before it started in earnest. A Port Authority source told the NYDN that three Snowy Owls had already been killed with shotguns at JFK. They were added to...
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