A wise old owl sat on an oak;
The more he saw the less he spoke;
The less he spoke the more he heard;
Why aren’t we like that wise old bird?
–Edward Hersey Richards
With all the recent snowy owl sightings lately, picking the bird of the month was easy! While you can’t attract owls to your yard with birdseed, you CAN get their attention by making a good outdoor habitat for mice and smaller mammals, or providing them a desirable nesting site. Since they’re nocturnal, they won’t interfere with the day-birds at your feeder. Some kinds you might see include: Barn owl, Barred owl, Eastern screech-owl, and Great horned owl. If you’re bent on seeing a Snowy Owl, keep an eye out during the day along the shoreline of the lake as well as open spaces like agricultural fields and airport lands. Recent confirmed sightings included Huntington Beach, Burke Lakefront Airport, one seen from East Erie in Lorain, and one spotted at Spitzer Marina, also in Lorain.
The Snowy Owl can be found represented in cave paintings in Europe.
The Snowy Owl female builds the nest, scraping out a shallow hollow on the bare ground and shaping it by pressing her body into the depression. The process takes a few days, and the owls may reuse the nest site for many years.
Snowy Owls, unlike others, will hunt at all hours of the day. And they may eat more than 1,600 lemmings in a single year.
More generally, Owls are all known for their silent flight, large expressive eyes, haunting calls, and nocturnal adventures. (All owl facts from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/owlp)
