Arctic Snowy Owls hit Central Pennsylvania and they need your help!

 Snowy owls are one of the most beautiful and a mysterious bird on Earth and the winter of 2013-14 has seen the biggest invasion in decades of these Arctic-breeding raptors into the Northeast and Great Lakes regions. Help is greatly needed for these Snowy Masters Of The Night and a collaborative group of scientists, bird-banders and wildlife health professionals are trying quickly to mobilize an unprecedented research program during this once in a lifetime event through telemetry, banding, toxicology screening, DNA analysis and much much more.

Dozens of collaborating scientists, wildlife health professionals, agencies and organizations throughout the Great Lakes and Northeast are volunteering their time and skills to study every facet of this phenomenon, most of them through Project Owlnet, a partnership of more than 120 independent owl migration research sites.

Project SNOWstorm (SNOW is the four-letter code that banders and birders use for Snowy Owl.). It was the brainchild of David F. Brinker, a wildlife biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Naturalist and author Scott Weidensaul, who directs the owl migration research program for the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art in Pennsylvania and Norman Smith of Massachusetts Audubon, who has been studying snowy owls for more than 30 years at Boston's Logan Airport, head up the team of researchers.

Snowy Owls come south in unpredictable invasions known as ‘irruptions.’ It’s mostly about food and babies, but the scientists have a lot to learn about this phenomenon and this winter’s is the biggest in decades. Their goal is to take advantage of the 2013-14 Snowy Owl irruptions to better understand, and ultimately conserve, this spectacular visitor from the north.

What they don't have is funding. No one saw this irruption coming, and there's no time to pursue the slow, conventional means of funding scientific research, like foundation grants. That's where you can help.

They need transmitters!

The most important tools at their disposal are new, cutting-edge GPS-GSM transmitters, which allow them to track the movements of these owls on an almost minute-to-minute basis, and in three dimensions (latitude, longitude and altitude). This allows them to see where these owls are traveling, what habitats they're using, where they're hunting at night and what threats they may be facing.

Please Donate!

Project SNOWstorm is an exciting opportunity to contribute directly to a valuable scientific project.

Their goal is to take advantage of the 2013-14 Snowy Owl irruption to better understand, and ultimately conserve, this spectacular visitor from the north.

Project SNOWstorm also has launched a website at www.projectsnowstorm.org

And an Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign at www.indiegogo.com/projects/project-snowstorm/x/5938289

Tax-deductible donations also may be made through the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art, 176 Water Company Rd., Millersburg PA 17061 (indicate "Project SNOWstorm" on the check).

If you’ve seen or photographed a snowy owl this winter, you can help us understand the reach of this irruption by taking a moment to log your sighting and upload your photograph of snowy owls with open wings and tails. Submit your photos and information here- http://www.jotform.us/snowyowlphotos13/snowstorm

From WNEP Pennsylvania Outdoor Life.