Time is running out to catch a glimpse of one of Canada’s most beautiful birds.
Snowy owls have called Alberta their home away from home for the last few months, but with the snow melting and temperatures rising, these migratory raptors will soon be heading north.
Every year, snowy owls in North America embark on a trip spanning hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometres, making their way from the Arctic tundra to southern Canada and the U.S. to take advantage of warmer temperatures and an abundance of food.
Not all snowy owls migrate, and not all end up as far south as others, but more than enough end up in Alberta for the province to become a wildlife photographer's paradise every winter.
These birds of prey are beloved by birdwatchers, Harry Potter fans and the general public, and for good reason: with their unmistakable white plumage and remarkable ability to hide in plain sight, snowy owls have an undeniable aura of mystique.
Snowy owls typically start making their way down from the Arctic in November, and have even been known to begin their migration in late October, but start leaving around March.
Last winter, snowy owl sightings in southern Alberta peaked in February, while the last reported sighting was on March 31, according to eBird, a birdwatching database that compiles information on bird sightings worldwide.
The birds will soon be gone, but sightings are still being reported.
“Given the incredibly warm weather we've been having, it is quite likely that northward movement has begun,” said snowy owl expert Terry Korolyk.
Korolyk, a longtime birder, has spent decades watching snowy owls and helping fellow birdwatchers find them in their natural habitat. From 1994 to 2022, he ran a birdwatching tour called the Snowy Owl Prowl, a joint venture of Nature Calgary and the City of Calgary.
Where can I find one?
Luckily for wildlife enthusiasts in and around Calgary, the best spots for finding snowy owls in the province are all within an hour's drive of the city.
This year's trends indicate that the largest concentration of snowy owl sightings in southern Alberta has been around Beiseker, a small village about 70 kilometres northeast of Calgary.
Korolyk's long-running Snowy Owl Prowl tours focused on the area east of Calgary, in particular the rural roads between Strathmore and Irricana. The fields of Wheatland County and Kneehill County are ideal hunting grounds for these birds, filled with vast expanses of empty land and tall structures for the birds to perch on while they look for prey.
South of Calgary, Foothills County and Vulcan County are productive places to search for snowy owls, particularly the areas around Blackie and Herronton.
Further up north, Grande Prairie and surrounding area have generated consistent snowy owl sightings, while there have also been some scattered reports around Sturgeon County near Edmonton.
Getting to a snowy owl hot spot is the easy part. Actually finding one of these elusive birds is exponentially harder.
Unlike most of their kin, snowy owls are diurnal, meaning they're most active during the day.
Snowy owls spend a great deal of time hunting. According to the Nature Conservatory of Canada, adults require the equivalent of up to 12 mice a day to meet their food requirements.
With that in mind, be on the lookout for large white spots atop fence posts, telephone poles and other man-made structures located in or near large fields. Odds are those large white spots are snowy owls on the lookout for prey.
With their white plumage, they effortlessly blend in with their snowy surroundings, and while they're the largest owls in North America when it comes to weight, they can be hard for even the most seasoned expert to detect with the naked eye. Though they stand at up to half a metre tall, their large stature doesn't make them any easier to spot in most cases.
When it comes to maximizing the odds of finding a snowy owl, weather conditions are one of the most important factors.
Going out on a sunny day is best: the sunlight may encourage snowy owls to perch while basking in the sun's warmth, making it easier to spot them.
Meanwhile, if it's too windy, snowy owls are more likely to hunker down for cover, making it much harder to spot them, especially when they're in the snow.
Spotting a snowy owl in motion is not an easy task. Unlike many other birds of prey, snowy owls tend to fly incredibly low, keeping close to the ground as they scan for rodents and other small prey.
Spotting female snowy owls is marginally easier, as they're covered in dark markings and are noticeably larger than males, which are predominantly white.
Keeping these tips in mind is beneficial, but as with any wild animal, there's no guarantee of finding a snowy owl, let alone getting a good photo of one.
In fact, according to reports, there has been a significant downward trend in snowy owl sightings.
Are snowy owls endangered?
Thankfully, snowy owls aren't listed as an endangered species — yet.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species lists the bird's global population as vulnerable, only one step away from endangered.
"We do still get lots of reports on them, but it's not known really if numbers are diminishing or where the current status of the bird as a winter visitor is currently," said Korolyk.
The State of Canada's Birds, a report published through a partnership between Birds Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada, indicates that snowy owls have experienced a "large decrease" in population trend, while their population is "below goal range."
According to the report, it's estimated there are approximately 15,000 snowy owls throughout North America, over half of the global population estimate of 29,000, with over half of those birds breeding in Canada and nearly all of the rest migrating to or through Canada.
Primarily based on data gathered through citizen science initiatives such as the Christmas Bird Count, the report indicates there has been an estimated loss of 56 per cent of the North American snowy owl population since 1970.
Factors behind the population decline are uncertain but may include changes in the availability of food, potentially due to climate change: snowy owl activity and breeding rates directly depend on the availability of prey in the Arctic, lemmings in particular. Lemming populations, which fluctuate significantly from year to year, heavily influence snowy owl populations. When lemming populations decline, their scarcity leads to snowy owls laying fewer eggs or even not nesting at all, which correlates to fewer birds overall and noticeably lower migration numbers.
In addition, snowy owls in Canada suffer from high mortality rates stemming from collisions with vehicles.
