The problem with owls is that they are so darn sexy. People love to watch them. Owls aren’t so sure.
It’s hard to say which owl is the sexiest, but snowy owls would get a lot of votes. Since they tend to perch in open areas in broad daylight, they can’t help but draw a crowd of admirers.
Snowy owl sightings are a little above average this winter, but they have yet to match the boom years at the beginning of the decade.
Owl irruptions come and go. When food is plentiful in the Canadian subarctic, owls make a lot of babies. When winter comes, many are forced to fly south to find enough to eat, especially younger birds who lack hunting experience.
You can tell age and sex by color. Adult males, as typically seen in calendars, are bright white. Females are streaked. Immature birds of both genders are heavily streaked.
Most of this year’s sightings have been in southern Maine. A couple have been spotted closer to Bangor. At least two are atop the mountains of Acadia, where they are seen almost every year.
If snowy owls feel a bit crowded, they have only themselves to blame. A few weeks ago, I stopped by to see one spotted in Scarborough. She was snoozing atop a backyard swing set in a densely packed neighborhood, nearly at eye level with the small crowd of humans admiring her from a distance.
Obviously, snowy owls choose wherever they want to be, without advice from us. Since rodents tend to cluster near people, owls too often do the same. I’ve taken dozens of photos of them sitting on rooftops and chimneys.
Snowy owls nest on the tundra, where they rarely encounter humans. They don’t automatically recognize people as threats. But they do get suspicious when a bizarre, two-legged creature gets too close. That brings us to the first rule: don’t get too close. If the owl is watching you, you’re already too close.
Snowy owls pose a challenge to birder ethics. Ethical birders know that encroaching on an owl can disturb the bird, and a disturbed bird is an endangered bird.
Arctic owls moving south in winter are likely undernourished. Well-meaning observers can scare off rodents, the owl’s primary food. If an owl is forced to fly, it can attract harassment from crows. Occasionally, these rare birds fly into a fatal collision with vehicles.
Unfortunately, snowy owls don’t make it easy to know when they’re becoming fearful. They look passive. Sitting in one place and staring out onto the landscape is just what they do. They are accustomed to hunting in daylight. The sun doesn’t even set during their June nesting season. A perched owl can look peaceful and unbothered, even when it isn’t.
If the first rule is to avoid getting close, the second rule is to watch the owl. If it’s watching you back, it’s getting nervous.
Six people were watching the Scarborough owl when I arrived. All stood about 100 yards away, taking photos through telephoto lenses. One person stood a little closer. Most of the time, the owl sat with her eyes closed or looking the other way. Occasionally, she would swivel her neck and check to make sure people were staying away, looking most often at the person who was closest.
I left. I don’t like to linger near a rare bird, adding to its potential discomfort. But that also means I rarely get that quality, calendar-worthy snapshot.
An owl in someone’s backyard is not the ideal pose for a wildlife photographer. An enthusiastic shutterbug may follow the same owl around for hours, hoping for an awesome, natural shot.
Thus, the third rule: use whatever optics can keep you far away from the bird. At a minimum, use binoculars. A spotting scope is better. Cameras with a big zoom or long lens are expensive, but worth it.
Location matters. An owl choosing to roost in a populated place can learn that people are inconvenient and sometimes annoying, but if they are not hassled, they will relax a bit.
In unpopulated areas, the owls become nervous even at a distance. Friends who visit the Acadia mountaintop owls are careful to stay far away, using trees and boulders as cover.
You may never see a snowy owl. But if you do, please behave.