The pace of snowy owl sightings has picked up significantly in recent weeks, especially on the eastern side of Wisconsin, according to Ryan Brady, Natural Heritage Conservation biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. (Ryan Brady photo)

Predictions of a down year for visiting snowy owls may have been a bit premature.

When the owls didn’t appear in October and early November, it seemed to signal these iconic raptors might not make the journey from the Arctic tundra and polar ice this year.

Turns out they were just running — or flying — late, said Ryan Brady, Natural Heritage Conservation biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

The pace of snowy owl sightings has picked up significantly in recent weeks, especially on the eastern side of Wisconsin, Brady stated in his weekly report. Other owls have ventured as far south as Tennessee, Kansas, Colorado and Virginia.

“After the slow start, snowy owls have surged into Wisconsin, bringing at least 72 owls to 30 counties as of December 1, 2021,” Brady wrote in the report. “All but a few of those arrived in the past two weeks. This total exceeds the 46, 34, and 21 found by this date in 2018, 2019, and 2020, respectively, but falls short of the 124 tallied by this time in the irruption year of 2017.”

It once was thought these influxes of snowy owls indicated lemming populations — the birds’ main prey — had crashed in the north, forcing the birds south to find food. But Brady said Friday that irruption years often signal the opposite: the adults owls have responded to an abundance of lemmings by hatching larger clutches, even perhaps raising two broods.

They may turn out 10 or more young birds if conditions are right, making for a surge of first-year snowy owls dispersing as fall arrives, Brady explained.

Most recent irruptions have been dominated by birds of the year, sometimes second-year owls, with few full adults. Younger snowy owls have bold scalloping markings, which the females retain while mature males turn almost completely white.

These young birds face uncertain prospects in coming to Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula. They don’t know the best hunting areas, they have little to no experience with humans or urban areas, and they still are developing their skills for finding and catching prey, Brady said.

They’ve flown over the Canadian boreal forest, even perhaps Lake Superior, to reach the region, Brady said.

“That’s a lot of energy expended,” he said.

Once here, they may gravitate to areas with open water that offer waterfowl or gulls and other birds as prey, even muskrats. They’ll seek large open fields similar to the tundra that might provide rodents and rabbits. The heaviest of North American owls, snowies are capable of taking down a wide range of animals.

Some may even try city or suburban living to live off pigeons or yard bunnies, Brady said. One prime area for spotting snowy owls can be airports because they have vast open areas and good habitat for prey.

Yet some of these visiting owls will not manage to thrive here. A few each year get taken to wildlife rehabilitators, a few are found dead.

Truth is, Brady said, about 70% of all young raptors do not survive their first year, not just the owls. The percentage can be even higher among songbirds, he added.

This year’s snowy owls do not appear to be arriving in poor condition, though some already have turned up deceased or needing treatment, he said.

The public also may be under the idea that snowy owls are active in the daytime, known as being diurnal, so worry when one is seen not moving that perhaps it’s weak or sick.

Yet in most cases snowy owls seen during the day are sitting still — roosting — often on the ground in an open field. Like most other owls, they prefer night and won’t really become active until the late afternoon, in the dim winter light or slanting sun, Brady said.

Snowy owls, by necessity, have learned to function in daytime, as they nest in territory that in summer may have little to no darkness.

While the Iron Mountain area isn’t ideally suited for snowy owls — they favor open country over forests, Brady explained — the region usually gets a few reports once an influx begins. In November 2017, one landed on the hood of a vehicle waiting in the drive-thru at Jimmy John’s sandwich shop in Iron Mountain. And in January of this year, former wildlife rehabilitator Phyllis Carlson took care of a snowy owl before releasing it back into the wild.

Betsy Bloom can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 240, or bbloom@ironmountaindailynews.com.