Out of towner
Seattle has a celebrity visitor, all the way from the Arctic.
This snowy owl has been wowing residents and birders in Queen Anne.* It is rare for the owls to be seen in this region, and the owls always create a stir in Seattle, where with their striking appearance they can hardly be missed. Their color evokes their usual home in the Arctic. Snowies are the largest of owls, with a wingspan that can reach nearly 5 feet. They also are among the heaviest, weighing in at about 5 pounds.
I went to see her today. Google actually had the address – apparently she really likes that particular chimney so that’s where she spends the day – which made it easy. No joy on the street side, but I’d seen photos of people watching her in an alley so I went around to the alley and sure enough there were people with their professional cameras…and then there was the owl. Snuggled up to the chimney just as in the photo.
I knew a pair at the zoo long ago, but I’ve never seen a wild one before. Not too shabby.
*Updating to add – I forgot to mention that Queen Anne is my neighborhood (named after the style of architecture, not the monarch). Owl is 5 blocks north and 6 east, in an area I walk around all the time. Talk about lucky.
Beautiful! She looks like Hedwig. :)
One day, many years ago, my mom and dad came back from one of their backroad drives. They’d seen a Snowy Owl, south of town (London, Ontario). Not unheard of, but not at all common. Dad asked if I wanted to go see it. YES! It was still sitting in the same spot, in the same tree. I took some bad photos of it, and we went home. My first, and so far only, Snowy in the wild. Cool. That was more than thirty years ago.
Saw snowys a few times as a little kid in extreme nw WA [eg, present murder-hornet habitat]. First one was when I was 5 or 6 years old, the bird sitting on a fence post in 2 feet of new snow, just about 50 feet from our house. I was afraid to go out and called our dog inside.
My most recent sighting was over 50 years ago in an Arctic blast in Puget Sound country. The snowy spent several days perched on the tower of the old library at Univ. of Washington Doing its hunchback of Notre Dame impression, the owl intermittently left its perch and stooped into the plaza in search of seagull burger..
Oh totally cool.
That is brilliant. I love how she looks like she’s posing for her fans.
Oh, posted too soon–question, aren’t owls usually nocturnal? Why is she out during the day?
Eagle-Owls are definitely larger. But by all means, the snowies are beautiful birds. I never would have expected to see one in such a densely populated area. “Out of towner” indeed!
Lovely.
A barn owl visits our garden occasionally. Not nearly so impressive but still a beautiful thing.
@guest,
You made me look. My first thought was that being nocturnal probably isn’t a good strategy in the Arctic summer. Anyway, here’s what Wikipedia says:
But of course it’s winter now in the Arctic, so a couple more points gleaned from Wikipedia: first, the owls are “irregular” migrants, and in some years they’ve been observed as far south as South Carolina and even Hawaii. Second, they seem to prefer slightly elevated areas that remind them of the Arctic tundra (apparently airports are a favorite). And then there’s this:
(Random capitalization in original; I don’t think it was written by a native speaker.) I guess the Seattle owl is resting during the day.
Haha good point that strict diurnal/nocturnal behaviour may be maladaptive toward the poles. I wonder if that means equatorial species are more likely to be strict daytime/night time animals?
I think Barn Owls are VERY impressive.
There is a young nature photographer in Seattle who takes some amazing photos of owls:
https://www.isabelleedwardsphoto.com/
Wow, golly, those are gorgeous.
Barn Owls are impressive, having one in your garden around here is not. Although I still get excited when I see it.