Northern Grey Owls Found In City

Article Date: 2004-12-18   Source: http://wcco.com   Comments: 0

St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A. - You may have seen one yourself. Southern Minnesota is being invaded by a large number of great grey owls from the north.

Many of the owls have headed south to find more food because their food supplies are running low. According to the University of Minnesota Raptor Center, this is common, occurring when the rodent populations they feed off of run low.

The Raptor Center has admitted many of the owls lately because they aren't used to city life and have been getting hurt.

"They hunt open areas for small prey, primarily voles," explained Julia Ponder, of the center. "The prey population is very cyclic, right now the vole population is very low up there, & so these guys are moving south in order to find food."

Ponder said that oftentimes, they have traumatic interactions with humans because they hunt very low to the ground and can easily be hit by cars.

The bird she showed us had some eye damage and some internal problems when they got him because a car hit him.

Grey owls have relatively small feet, but very sharp talons. They primarily eat small rodents.

"They are a very, very quiet bird in general," Ponder said.

Ponder said the feathered edge of the owl’s feather gives them a silent flight because it breaks the air.

"We allow people to adopt these birds, & release them back into the wild, these guys will go up north to be released, " Ponder said.

If you still need a gift idea for the holidays, you can donate to the Raptor Center and release a great grey owl.

There are nine northern owls at the raptor center right now. The shortage in their natural food supply happens every 10 to 15 years.

Related Articles:
2005-06-06 - Great horned owl now protected in Minnesota by Jeff Dankert - St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A.
2005-03-29 - Foundation helps Raptor Center with gray owl care by Jerret Raffety - St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A.
2005-03-17 - Under proposed legislation, great horned owl to be taken off list of unprotected birds in Minnesota by T.W. Budig - St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A.
2005-03-17 - Raptor Center treating more owl patients by Steven John - St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A.
2005-03-01 - Raptor Center helping more owls by Jerret Raffety - St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A.
2005-02-23 - Owl invasion draws birders to Minnesota by Chris Niskanen - St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A.
2005-01-25 - Owls traveling south in large numbers by David Hill - St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A.
2004-12-15 - Increase in Owl Admissions by Sue Kirchoff - St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A.

< Previous News article   |   Next News Article >

Comments

Comment on the above News article.