A Storm of Owls

Thousands of owls descended on northern Minnesota last winter, offering birders the show of a lifetime. Will they come again?

By John Myers

IRRUPTION. The word just sounds big.

It's the term birders use to describe an unusual mass movement of birds into an area. But even that big word fails to capture what happened last winter when thousands of owls descended on northern Minnesota.

The irruption broke all records, attracted worldwide attention, and became the stuff of legends in the Midwest birding community.

It's only an educated guess—based on sightings, banded birds recaptured, and the number of dead owls found—but owl experts say more than 5,000 owls flew into northern Minnesota from Canada last winter. The vast majority were great gray owls, along with a few hundred boreal owls and northern hawk owls.

To put that in perspective, it was more than 10 times the previous record irruption when just 394 great grays made headlines. All of the birders in a given year typically see a few dozen great gray owls and maybe five boreal owls and five hawk owls. Last winter they'd see that many in a day.

"It was off the charts. There's never been anything like it in our lifetime, and probably won't be again," said Kim Eckert, Duluth ornithologist, birding guide, and author of A Birders' Guide to Minnesota.

Sharon Stiteler, a Twin Cities birding enthusiast who operates a birding Web site, used a Hollywood analogy to explain why people from across the United States, Europe, and even China came to see the concentration of owls in Minnesota.

"This isn't just a rare bird, this is the Brad Pitt of birds, one everyone wants to see," Stiteler said. "Then imagine 5,000 or more Brad Pitts in one area in one winter. Most of us are happy if we see one or two in a year. But to see 10 or 20 or more in one day...you can imagine how bird people got a little excited."

Vanished Voles

Exactly where did the owls come from? And why did so many fly to the same area of Minnesota? Such questions remain a mystery, but bird experts do know why the birds fled their Canadian homeland. During the summer of 2004, the populations of red-backed voles, mice, and other small rodents—the owls' primary food source—crashed across much of Canada's boreal forest. Manitoba scientist James Duncan reported the lowest rodent population in 12 years.

It was move or starve; and the owls moved, especially into the Sax-Zim bog area of St. Louis County and into Aitkin, Pine, and Carlton counties later in the winter.

"I knew something was happening even in late September," said Frank Nicoletti, raptor expert and hawk counter at Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Duluth. "I was seeing adult rough-legged hawks in Duluth a month earlier than usual. They eat the same rodents the owls do."

By mid-October Nicoletti was trapping and banding more boreal owls than he had ever seen. On the first night, he banded 29 boreals. "We didn't even have containers for them all. We were putting them in our jacket pockets," Nicoletti said. "The whole irruption was beyond the conception of what anyone thought could happen."

By November, owls were pouring into northern Minnesota. Many would stay the winter because they found an abundant population of meadow voles and mice. Sax-Zim bog was the perfect place for them to stop, said Carrol Henderson, supervisor of the Department of Natural Resources Nongame Wildlife Program. "They really seem to favor this kind of semiopen, boggy country where they can hunt."

The owls posed no danger of disrupting the food chain, Henderson said, because small rodents in northern Minnesota are prolific. Minnesota populations of voles and mice don't seem to crash as fast or hard as those in Canada, he said.

Plowed roads and shoulders in rural areas offered easy places for great gray and hawk owls to find prey. They came just far enough to find food, not to escape winter, Henderson said.

"Owls really aren't migratory in the traditional sense. They're more nomadic," he said. "Owls are like some relatives. They show up unannounced, stay for a while, and then move on."

Deadly Swoop

On just about any daylight drive through Sax-Zim bog last winter, people could see great gray owls perched atop telephone poles, tamaracks, spruces, or road signs, ready to hunt. Using their keen hearing to pinpoint rodents burrowing under snow, the great grays—with wingspans up to 5 feet—would swoop down on their prey and then dine, often within easy viewing of birders. The birds didn't seem to mind an audience, as long as birders kept their distance.

The owls' attraction to roadsides made for great owl watching, but busy highways proved deadly to many owls as they hunted. "They like to swoop down from their perch. And once they are focused in on that vole, they don't pay attention to anything else," Henderson said. "That's when they would get hit. They would fly low, right into or in front of the vehicle without even noticing it. It's unfortunate, but probably unavoidable."

During the winter more than 1,000 owls were found dead, most of them great grays. The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota saved 90 injured and sick owls. Of the great grays that died, more than 70 percent had been struck by a vehicle. Only 17 percent had starved, indicating most were finding enough food in the state.

Tiny boreal owls had a tougher time finding food and apparently came here in weaker condition, said Steve Wilson, boreal owl expert and DNR scientific and natural area coordinator in the forest region. Of the more than 150 dead boreal owls examined, most had died of starvation.

Windfall or Hassle

For folks who live in the Meadowlands, Toivola, and Cotton areas, last winter was a curiously busy time.

"I think we saw license plates from every state except Hawaii," said Jim Fisher, president of the St. Louis County Association of Townships. "And we heard a few European accents."

Henderson estimated the direct tourism impact of owl watchers in the area could have exceeded $1 million. Now some communities are looking at ways to tap into the potential income from owl watchers. Ideas mulled at a midsummer owl roundtable sponsored by the DNR and the St. Louis County Land Department include posting birding-route signs, creating roadside turnoffs for safe birdwatching, and providing tourist services such as restrooms, lodging, and guided tours.

With federal surveys estimating that wildlife watchers now spend more than $500 million in Minnesota each year, Henderson said it's time for rural communities to cash in. He said many local residents are unaware that numerous national birding publications list the Sax-Zim area as one of the best northern birding spots in the nation.

A few local residents took offense at the invasion of outsiders—the owl watchers, that is. And some frustrated looks came from logging-truck drivers who had to wait behind the cars of birders oblivious to sharing the road.

Jim Larson, forester with the St. Louis County Land Department, is working to bring local residents and visiting birders together. "Some people got a little upset when cars would pull into their driveway or block their road to look at an owl," Larson said. "What we're trying to tell people up here is that, that owl or little bird they see every day, other people are willing to come from all over the world to look at it. And they'll spend money to do it."

Winter in Larson's area around the Sax-Zim bog offers not only owls but also gray jays, boreal chickadees, northern goshawks, and other species popular with birders. In summer the area supports several species of warblers, flycatchers, rails, and woodpeckers, as well as sandhill cranes.

Ronnie Matvey, owner of the Country Market in Meadowlands, said last winter was among her best ever for business. During the usually quiet dead of winter, her store often was flush with birders stopping for coffee or sandwiches. While Matvey and other local entrepreneurs hesitate to invest too much money for business that relies on the vagaries of owls, they are taking steps to serve birders.

"I've got the birding coffee mugs and shirts and souvenirs," Matvey said. "And we?re taking names of people who would be willing to open their house for birders to stay, or open their property for people to come and see birds. We?re getting more birder friendly."

Return of the Owls?

Owl experts doubt another irruption of the magnitude of 2004-05 will happen again, at least not any time soon. However, they note that minor irruptions occur every 5 to 10 years as Canadian rodent numbers cycle.

"There will be some owls around, there always are. But I don?t think it will be an irruption of any magnitude. There isn't much precedent for having two big irruptions back-to-back, or having a lot of owls stay long after an irruption," birding guide Eckert said. "In one sense, those of us who take birders out are kind of dreading this winter because last winter set up such high expectations." Last year's irruption peaked by late winter. The number of owls spotted in Minnesota began to dwindle by spring, although no one knows why the owls left or where most of them went.

Some birders predicted holdover owls from last year's irruption would stay and nest in northern Minnesota and bolster the state's small native population. A few owls were seen in the region last summer, but it's not clear if they actually nested. Some experts are skeptical that there will be much lasting effect, a so-called echo from last year's irruption.

Hawk Ridge's Nicoletti is more optimistic about this winter's owl-watching possibilities. "We were seeing a few owls around over the summer. We were getting returns [of banded owls] even into July, and some reports of nesting," he said. "I think there will be some echo."

The DNR's Henderson agreed, betting that the incredible numbers of owls last year will have some carryover this winter and maybe longer.

"If you were lucky enough to see it last year, find someone who didn't see it and bring them up with you this year, because there will still be owls around. If you didn't see it last year, definitely make the trip this winter," Henderson said. "It might not be 50 in a day like last winter, but it might be four or five. This [Sax-Zim area] is still one of the best places to see owls anywhere in the country, even when it's not a big irruption."

John Myers lives in Duluth, where he reports about the environment and natural resources for the Duluth News Tribune newspaper.