Raptor release: Snowy owl returned to wild from Chocolay Raptor Center
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Jerry Maynard, left, and Bob Jensen, cofounders of the Chocolay Raptor Center, release a snowy owl at Gentz's Homestead Golf Course in Chocolay Township on Thursday. The center had rehabilitated the bird, which it received from Munising. (Journal photo by Christie Mastric)
Jerry Maynard and Bob Jensen, cofounders of the Harvey-based Chocolay Raptor Center, released a snowy owl they had been rehabilitating at the center.
Jensen said the center received the female about four weeks ago from Munising.
"Some folks found him along the trail there," said Jensen, and luckily they got the bird right to the center. Fortunately, the owl wasn't in too bad a shape. Still, they fed the bird enough to put a pound on it while in rehab, he said.
Jensen noted the owl probably was weak from traveling from the north, but they also found a small wound by the back of its left wing.
While at the center, the owl was placed in a cage where it could be seen flying around and its sense of balance observed, he said. The owl then was transferred to a flight cage where it again flew back and forth.
"Very, very active," Jensen said.
According to Bird Watcher's Digest, the winters of 2013-14 and 2017-18 were "irruption" years for snowy owls. This occurs when abundant food during the nesting season results in more eggs per nest. At the onset of winter, the large population of snowy owls disperses from the Far North breeding territory to more southern areas.
Project SNOWstorm studies snowies and promotes their conservation through outreach and education, its website at projectsnowstorm.org reads.
Will there will be an irruption in the Upper Peninsula this year?
"Hard to tell," Maynard said. "There's been a few reported the last couple of weeks -- interestingly, in the central U.P. instead of the east."
Maynard said he has been communicating with Project SNOWstorm, which reported a few have been spotted in New York and "quite a few more" on the East Coast.
"They said they weren't able to send any researchers out into the field because of the pandemic this year, so they don't know what kind of a year for snowy hatches it was, other than they did have some information from Greenland -- that Greenland had a bumper crop," Maynard said.
For more information on the Chocolay Raptor Center, visit it on Facebook.
Christie Mastric can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.