ANIMAL BEHAVIOR: Migratory Patterns And Disaster Precursors - Lost Snowy Owl Seen In Cornwall, England In A Strange Case Of Wrong Time, Wrong Place?!

Snowy owl

April 11, 2016 - ENGLAND - The scene of engine houses against the backdrop of a crisp blue sky might be fairly common in Cornwall, but what is not is the small white bird nestling in the hedgerow.

This snowy owl, which was snapped by photographer Adam Whitehouse, was probably trying to gather its bearings after flying way off course.

The eye-catching birds are native to Arctic regions in North America and Eurasia rather than the tip of West Cornwall.

Mr Whitehouse said the pretty white visitor stopped off for a spell at St Just on April 4 and was pictured here just above Kenidjack Valley.

He said it was not the only rare visitor of late and in the same few days a number of other Arctic birds have been seen in the area, including a rare Gyr falcon in the same location and an Iceland gull on the beach.

- Plymouth Herald.

ANIMAL BEHAVIOR & ICE AGE NOW: "Oh My God,... What In The World,... Some Kind Of Omen" - Arctic Snowy Owl Perches Itself Atop An Awning During Rush Hour In Downtown Washington?!

January 23, 2014 - UNITED STATES -  It appeared from seemingly out of nowhere, a great arctic snowy owl on a bitter cold Wednesday in the middle of downtown Washington.

A rarely seen snowy owl perches itself in a tree at McPherson Square on Wednesday.
Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post

Pedestrians at rush hour stopped in their tracks. Was it some kind of omen?

“What in the world?” one man said. The owl stared back, yellow eyes against perfect white feathers. “What in the world?” its annoyed look said.

Out came the cellphone cameras, with amateur paparazzi lighting up the rarely seen fluffy bird of the Arctic that had perched itself atop a green awning at 15th and K streets NW near McPherson Square Park about 5:30 p.m.

“Oh my God,” cried Kiersten Beigel, 43, of the District. “This is really moving.” The owl, sitting there, appeared unmoved. Beigel was walking along 15th Street when she saw about 20 people staring up. “I said: ‘What’s this crowd [doing]?’ and I looked up.”

People have been looking up more than usual to see snowy owls in the United States, from Revere Beach, Mass., to Little Talbot Island State Park near Jacksonville, Fla.

According to an eBird tracker operated by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, the birds have been spotted in the Great Lakes region, the Dakotas and Arkansas. They normally live in the treeless tundra of the Arctic.

In this region, there have been sightings at Reagan National Airport, Hains Point and Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

But at 1500 K Street, where lobbyists rule the roost? Shane Lieberman thought he’d never see the day. “I think I’ve seen one once, when I was a kid” in Connecticut, said Lieberman, 35, of the District.

The owl, meanwhile, left its awning for a tree in McPherson Square. - Washington Post.