Saving a Snowy Owl and Sharing the Experience

Close call for a Snowy Owl, means local area kids get an up-close opportunity to learn more about owls and the Ottawa National Forest.

Snowy owls, so rarely seen, have been frequent visitors to the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan for the past several weeks. Residents of the arctic, Snowy owls move south in late fall seeking better habitat. Recently, an adult snowy owl was photographed perched on the roof of a local lumber company overlooking an open field. Snowy owls frequent open fields and marshes and enjoy hunting these areas, but in taking to flight from these level fields, it can put them directly in the path of motorists on adjoining roadways. This was sadly evident when in late October, an adult Snowy owl was found deceased along a roadway outside of Ontonagon, Michigan, after being hit be a vehicle.

On the evening of November 5th, a call came in to Dawn Buss-Glodowski with the Ottawa National Forest, Ontonagon Ranger District, of a wounded Snowy owl on Old Highway 28. Dawn and her husband, Brian, saw the bird was injured, took steps to rescue it, and transported it to the Ontonagon District office the next morning. It appeared the juvenile Snowy owl had also been hit by a vehicle next to an open field and sustained a broken wing. Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Wildlife Biologist Rob Aho was able to organize a "shuttle" for the bird to a State Rehabilitation Center in Rapid River, Michigan. While waiting to shuttle the bird, Mr. Aho and Dawn took the owl to the Ontonagon Elementary School for kids to quietly enjoy an upclose view of the Snowy owl in its carrier, and to take in a quick lesson about owls in the Upper Peninsula. The bird seemed calm and alert and is now literally "on the road" to recovery!