Increased snowy owl sightings in Ottawa likely up this year because of tundra environment crash

Local “birders” have gotten an unexpected visitor to the area this year — snowy owls.

Snowy owl sightings have been aplenty this year  — but their presence in the city isn’t typical, or normal in the least bit.

According to Dr. Dave Bird, professor emeritus of wildlife biology at McGill University, these birds of prey are often situated high up north in Canada’s treeless tundra.

“There’s something about owls in the public’s eye. The snowy owl in particular is a very striking bird, while the males are almost all white with two very lemon yellow eyes, females are large with a lot of markings on them,” he said. “If anyone ever sees one, it’s almost something like you’ve never seen before because you don’t get to see them everyday,” he said. 

But the reason we’ve been seeing a couple around Ottawa, he says, is because it’s likely things aren’t doing too well in the area and their environment has become a little rough.

The tundra is where these birds of breed. They nest on the ground and eat lemmings or voles, which are a type of mouse, and prefer open habitats.

If the food’s not there, then the owls will go as further south as they need to go to find food.

“You’re more like to find them at a local airports, or on hydro poles, but in treeless areas where you can see them,” Bird explained.

And with COVID-19 leaving little for people to do, more people have taken up the fairly inexpensive hobby of bird watching, Bird says.

While they are beautiful to marvel at, Bird stresses it’s important that we watch them from a distance with a telescope or a pair of binoculars.

“If you continually go after them to get closer for a photograph or whatever, and keep them on the move all the time, then they are wasting valuable energy which they have to replenish by finding more food later,” Bird said. “And I think the worse thing someone can do is to try and bait them in with a live mouse or something to get that ideal photograph.”

These moves can end up killing the owl, Bird says, as some have been known to be hit by cars because of such situations.

It’s also not a good thing to get used to be fed by humans either, he adds.

But bird watchers and photographers alike don’t only have owls to chase — Bird says there’s a “whole whack” or finches, crossbills, grosbeaks coming down south as their typical supply of seeds, cones and fruits have crashed.

If anything, Bird says, this is a magical year for people to go bird watching.