In rare sighting, snowy owl tagged, released at Assateague Island
A female snowy owl was captured, fitted with a transmitter and released recently at Assateague Island — the first in Maryland in almost three years, according to a group that studies the species.
Steve Huy, co-founder of Project SNOWstorm, and photographer Allen Sklar documented the tagging Jan. 28 at Assateague Island State Park. They named the snowy owl "Sinepuxent" after the bay where she hunts at night.
Huy determined Sinepuxent was healthy enough to receive a transmitter donated by the Delmarva Ornithological Society. The transmitter, which does not affect quality of life, allows researchers to study owl behavior and migration patterns.
Sklar held Sinepuxent for two hours while they put the harness on.
"It was quite the experience to hold the owl," he said. "We let her stretch out a bit, fluff her wings, get everything in position, and then we released her."
Project SNOWstorm was founded in 2013, in the wake of the largest irruption of snowy owls into the east since the 1920s, according to the group's website.
Huy said he's seeing another influx of snowy owls into the Delmarva region this year.
"It's definitely an irruption," he said. "It's a large unusual movement of a population into an area."
The movement is due in part to the territorial demands of snowy owls, which need enough space to feed without competition, Huy said, adding that the more they bump into one another, the more they will spread out and head south from Canada.
Sklar photographed Sinepuxent on Saturday on the beach to make sure the transmitter was working correctly.
"She's still on the island," Huy said. "She's moving around normally. She spends her days in the dunes and at night hunting over the bay."
While Huy is happy people go out and view snowy owls, he said it's important to keep a distance. If, say, the owl isn't doing well, it will be using up energy to fly away from people, which could make its hunting less successful.
Once an owl is tagged, scientists can study the migration patterns of the bird, tracking it from Delmarva to the Arctic Circle. The information helps researchers understand changes in population.