fauna votes with feathers

bwilson4web · Feb 1, 2014

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Ornithologists and bird watchers are not sure why the birds have come so far and in such great numbers this year. In decades of study, Mr. Smith said, “what I’ve learned is we know very little about this bird.” He suggests that the large population is a result of a bonanza of lemmings and other small rodents that snowy owls eat, perhaps a consequence of the milder Arctic weather. That led to larger population of hatchlings that must spread farther and farther out to find territory of their own.

The lemming hypothesis does not satisfy Kevin J. McGowan, an ornithologist at Cornell. He noted that tiny transmitters placed on the owls have shown some of the birds do a surprising thing in winter: Instead of flying to the more temperate south, they fly farther north and scout the Arctic ice pack for pools of open water populated by sea ducks and other waterfowl.

Climate change, which has been thawing Arctic ice so actively that new shipping routes are opening in the far north, could have disrupted the habitat, Professor McGowan speculated. “That has to be one of the most vulnerable ecosystems on the planet. That’s going to be one of the first places that falls apart when there is warming in the atmosphere,” he said. This may have driven more of them south instead of north. A big shift in bird movement one year might just be a freakish event, he said, or potentially “it’s the beginning of a pattern.”
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source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/01/us/influx-of-snowy-owls-thrills-and-baffles-birders.html?_r=0

Below the photo is a link to another article about the migration:

source: Focusing on Wildlife – Snowy Owls | Whales Worldwide

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This rare, mass southerly migration, known as an irruption is probably linked with their key food source lemmings according to owl biologists. The breeding period for snowy owls in the Tundra stretches from May to September and the previous season saw a plentiful supply of this small, hamster-like rodent which resulted in larger than normal clutch sizes among breeding pairs of snowy owls. More importantly, the number of young birds successfully fledged doubled resulting in a much larger population of snowy owls in the Arctic Tundra this year and much greater competition for food at the onset of winter. It is thought this has resulted in the younger animals, probably mainly males, heading south in search of food.
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A Southerner, I've been more impressed with the northern migration of the the armadillo although the other critters like the pine beatle have more impact. But whether by feather, paw, or wing, these biololoical proxies are pretty well showing climate is changing. As expected, warm climate critters headed North but somewhat unexpected, cold climate critters headed south.

Bob Wilson

fauna votes with feathers

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fauna votes with feathers

bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3