A snowy owl bonanza for Ontario residents

Thursday, December 11, 2014, 5:20 PM - The residents of the capital region are spotting record numbers of snowy owls this winter, due to an "irruption" that's seeing more birds fly farther south of their usual range in the boreal forest.

An irruption is an irregular migration of birds to a region where they aren't usually found. In North America, winter irruptions bring Snowy Owls into southern Canada about once every four years. It has now been almost two months since this year’s southward movement began and there have been likely 150 to 200 snowy owls and even possibly upwards of 300 birds observed since the beginning of December.

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It's partly being caused by a huge explosion in the number of snowy owls in the Arctic, which has caused some to move south in search of food, says Carleton University biology instructor Michael Runtz. "They had a bumper year of reproduction in the Arctic, when owls are well fed in their nesting territories, they produce more eggs and more young survive when they hatch." These irruptions are also believed to be related to the boom and bust cycles of lemmings, the Snowy Owl's main prey, and other factors such as weather.

Wide open spaces such as fields are a good place to find them and the high concentration areas continue to be Casselman-Ste. Rose-Hawkesbury, Winchester-Chesterville, Russell-Embrun, Arnprior, Cobden, Carleton Place, Kanata, Barrhaven, Richmond, Ottawa Airport, Kingston and both Amherst and Wolfe Islands.

Thanks to all the Weather Network viewers that uploaded Snowy Owl video and/or photographs during the past weeks.