"Bird-Watchers Revel in Unusual Spike in Snowy Owl Sightings"

[handmade34]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/science/earth/spike-in-snowy-owl-sightings-stirs-speculation-among-bird-watchers.html?src=recg

"...From coast to coast across the northern United States, a striking number of snowy owls have been swooping onto shorelines and flying over fields this winter, delighting bird-watchers and stirring speculation about the cause of the spike.

The white, two-foot-tall birds, which live in the Arctic the rest of the year, are known to fly south in large numbers every few winters in what is known as an irruption. But this year, the numbers are unusually high, said Denver Holt, director of the Owl Research Institute in Charlo, Mont..."

[semillama]

1. I've seen three this winter

Two in Ohio and one in Massachusetts. One of the Ohio birds subsequently died from starvation; I suspect that will be the fate of many of these young, inexperienced birds in foreign habitats.