The last couple weeks I and many other collaborators have been scrambling to set up an awesome initiative to learn more about the Snowy Owls that have invaded down through the Midwest and East Coast all the way to Florida!
The goals of the project are pretty awesome. First, we want to put transmitters on Snowy Owls to figure out where these owls are traveling, where and when they are hunting, the types of habitat they’re using, and what threats they may be facing. That in of itself is a huge goal and can provide a lot of new information on these magnificent birds. We also are planning on doing a ton of banding, with the added components of toxicology screening and DNA analysis from feather and blood samples that can tell us all sorts of things from the health of the bird to determining where they came from in the Arctic.
We’ve had some great financial support already from several state ornithology societies in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and the Delmarva peninsula as well as after a hundred individual supporters so far. However, we are still looking to raise funds to conduct all of the novel research that we can during this rare opportunity.
We have an Indiegogo campaign set up where you can help us fund more transmitters and all of the lab work on the feather and blood samples we will need to do. There are some great perks available for people who donate, from Project SNOWstorm stickers designed by Paul Riss to original prints from Jen Brumfield to a signed copy of Of A Feather by Scott Weidensaul.
You can read more at the Project SNOWstorm website.
