The invasion of snowy owls from Canada to the United States has fascinated birders and wildlife biologists.
The arctic-dwelling birds have flown south seeking food but have proved a headache at airports, where large, flat runways resemble their tundra hunting grounds.
Faced with the possibility of plane-owl collisions, airports have shot the owls, (snowy owls are more likely than most other species to cause damage when struck by an aircraft because of their body mass, density and habit of flying low). But those shootings have sparked public outcry and even a lawsuit.
More recently, the owls are being caught, tagged and tracked by wildlife officials, as they did with four owls that showed up at Brunswick Executive Airport last winter.
[Biologists relocate snowy owls from Brunswick airport]
Now you can track one of those owls, an adult female, which was transported to the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in Wells. It’s best of you full-screen it. Click the yellow button on the far left.
If you’re interested in the owl tracking project, you can support Project SNOW’s indiegogo.com fundraiser page here.