Hundreds of owls are keeping a watchful eye over Rainy River District these days.
Bird watchers, commuters, and residents have been reporting a noticeable increase in Great Grey Owls dotting the district.
“There’s way more, more than I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Henry Miller, president of the Fort Frances Sportsmen’s Club. “Anywhere you go, there’s owls.”
The Great Greys appear to have moved in a large group into the district from their natural homes a little further north.
“I’ve been seeing them all over,” added photographer Bill Morgenstern of Earth Moods. “Last week when I was out, within a circuit of about three or four miles, there were four [Great Greys] total.
“I [also] saw three Northern Hawk Owls. There’s lots of those as well.”
Morgenstern also had the chance to watch a Great Grey in action as it dug for food just a few feet away.
“He did a face-plant right beside the van in the road ditch. I sat there for half an hour and he didn’t care,” he recalled.
The Ministry of Natural Resources is attributing the influx of owls to natural changes in their normal habitat.
“We do have a few of these birds that are residents year round but certainly not all of them,” Ted Armstrong, the MNR’s regional wildlife biologist, noted from his Thunder Bay office.
“It’s a natural part of the natural cycle and it’s just a matter of how much prey is available in their area,” he added. “They’re invading the area, I suspect they’re concentrated.
“I don’t think they would be as concentrated in their normal habitat.”
With their keen hearing and sight, Armstrong said the owls are searching for small creatures–often burrowing beneath the snow.
“You can’t see this prey out of your windows but it’s there,” he remarked. “They feed on small mammals, moles, and mice but they’re on a cycle.
“Some years they increase, some years they decrease.”
Armstrong said he expects the owls will continue to move south in search of prey before eventually returning to their northern habitat once prey there has rebounded.
“It could go a couple of different ways but probably the Great Greys will continue to move south. I think gradually you’ll see a lessening number of owls this winter,” Armstrong predicted.
“For those birders who are interested, they can certainly get a lot of good looks yet . . . there’s a lot of interest in the birding community,” he continued. “Every time these irruptions happen, it’s big news in birding circles because they can see these birds from northern climates.”
Armstrong admitted he also has an eye out for the owls.
I’m very interested. They are a very intense bird, and Great Greys for sure. They’re not that common so it’s interesting to see them.”
Bird Studies Canada is looking for volunteers to count the secretive birds as part of an annual survey–the Ontario Nocturnal Owl Survey.
Participants are asked to go out on one night in April each year and survey the owls with a tape player, compass, and flashlight. The results will be used to monitor the health of the Ontario owl population and unravel some of the mystery involving them.
Anyone with a keen interest in owls can call 1-888-448-2473 to sign up and receive a training tape to learn the different owl calls.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
