Snowy owls have once again made their way down to the Sarnia-Lambton area.
The large white birds were spotted near Chris Hadfield Airport earlier this month.
A Snowy Owl spotted near Sarnia's Chris Hadfield Airport. December 2021. (Photo courtesy of Mario Aquilina)
Lynn Eves, the founder of Bluewater Centre for Raptor Rehabilitation, told Sarnia News Today that she's been rehabilitating snowy owls since she opened the centre in 1992. However, she said they appear to be visiting the area more regularly of late.
"It's normally about a seven year cycle, or used to be, that we would see a big influx of the snowy owls coming down south, but it's more and more common. So we've almost seen them every year for the past few years."
Eves said southern Ontario would typically see the birds stay until around March, but she said there have been sightings longer and longer into the year.
"For instance, I received an injured snowy owl in July of last year. The bird was in good shape -- it had a broken wing but he was making out just fine, but why he stayed and decided not to go up north is a question we're starting to ask."
The rehabilitation centre released the bird last month.
Eves said multiple snowy owls have made the long trek from the Arctic here to Sarnia-Lambton.
"There's actually lots of sightings already, so I expect that we're going to see more snowy owls. It's really uncertain why we're seeing so many of them so often, for so many years."
Eves said they're scattered around the area, and will typically hunt during the day.
"When they're not hunting, they're sitting or they're perching, and tundra is what they're used to, so they're used to the big open field and that's what we have here in southern Ontario."
