Snowy owl confirmed in Greene County

While all anxiously await Santa’s visit, it is an unexpected Arctic guest that has hotlines and list serves across Virginia buzzing.
Five days of confirmed reports and photos prove Greene County has a resident snowy owl.
First captured on camera in Ruckersville, the bird has been followed about the county by a posse of protective paparazzi determined to keep him safe while adding him to their life-list of bird sightings.

The snowy owl is a federally protected species, which makes hunting, intentionally harming or keeping one illegal.
From the photo provided by George Larner of Greene, members of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology believe the bird is an immature male about 1 year old.
Although Cornell has reported sightings of snowy owls in New York State, Wisconsin and Michigan, the Virginia sighting in is the farthest south reported this year.
Dr. Dave McRuer of the Wildlife Center of Virginia gives a possible explanation of how Greene got its guest.
“This bird is not only off course, but also out of sync with the rest of the population,” explained McRuer. “I’ve worked quite a bit with snowy owls in Canada, and they tend to erupt [move south on mass] every four years or so when the local population of lemmings decreases on their four-year cycle.”
(Lemmings are hamster-sized rodents and the major food source for the snowy owl.)

“In this case,” McRuer said, “I believe the birds came in on the cold front that arrived two weeks ago. To the best of my knowledge, there has been another snowy spotted around the Front Royal area and an injured one was picked up in Virginia Beach.”
Laura Erickson, noted author, blogger, speaker and a science editor for Cornell, believes a diminished food supply may have prompted established and older birds to force the younger birds out of their normal territory. The birds spotted in Virginia may have simply followed their food source south.

“Although we don’t know if the lemming population has dropped, we think it is probable since there has been a snowy owl invasion reported in New York and Minnesota,” Erickson said. “With luck and a good food year, the bird in Greene will survive the winter and make its way back to the Arctic.”
Food may not be the biggest obstacle to the bird’s survival. Unfamiliar dangers such as cars and chimneys provide a greater hazard.
“Although they live in the same area,” Erickson said, “Santa has not discussed with the owls how a chimney works. The birds think the chimney is a solid structure, they land on it and fall down the chimney.”