http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/owl-snow-canada/

Field Notes – Snowy Owl
Observations: 4 March ’15 – 14 March ’15
Sr. Fellow Research Project
M.L. Nyagg, M.O. Candidate ’16

6 March ’15

7:48am – Spotted a female at 45°31’41.0″N 70°00’54.6″W

Same young female as yesterday. My camp must be near her nest.

I observed her for about an hour shortly after dawn. She must not have caught any food last night, or I suspect she would have retired with the sunrise. She hardly moved for the hour, then she took off and flew to a more open area over by the lake.

This is where I saw it happen. Wind had kicked up around the water, and she spent some time purposefully orienting herself. It took her almost 10 ten minutes of moving, twisting and turning, hopping around to different spots before she settled in. Leg up, head down, eyes closed and faced turned away from the wind, she began to listen.

Bad luck – I was not approved for a spectraural device on this trip. Too expensive for a first-time field study. But this will help my case for next time.

She listened for just a few minutes. Then she shook out her feathers, preened for a moment, then took off, flying in as straight a line as she could manage in the wind.

We still don’t know how they hear it. Our most advanced SDs are capable of hearing the ancient voices, but how otherwise unremarkable snowy owls can hear is beyond our current understanding. I hope to cover this on future studies. Much will depend on whether I can come across a bird who recently reached a natural demise. An autopsy will be required for proper, in-depth research.

Notes on Listening:

– The Snowy Owls can hear their ancestors. Physiological mechanism unknown. But it’s clear the owls understand the messages they receive.

– At the end of the megafauna age, the snowy owl predecessor species was large enough that caribou and elk were main food sources. Massive beasts lived in small families that controlled huge territories. Night hunters with what must have been an incredible success rate given the sizes to which they eventually grew

– Worthwhile SDs can hear the messages whispered by the ancient birds. Referred to as Echoes. They messages are, we believe, hunting tips from the long-since extinct creatures to aid their contemporary brethren

– Suspicion – the voices are remnants/memories somehow caught in the snow. Owls don’t show the listening behavior in the warm months. Could be because food isn’t scarce then, but I want to run tests to confirm

– If Echoes are caught in the snow, can snow be brought to a 2nd location to be studied? Can we communicate back to the ancient birds, or are their “voices” a recorded message playing on repeat?

– Does the position of the listening owl matter? I want observe the behavior as much as possible while I’m out here to determine if the body position is ritualized or if it’s a basic adaptation. Would be enormous breakthrough if it’s ritualized, obviously