Snowy owl
Indications are building that many of the large owls, referred to by the code SNOW by licensed bird-banders, according to Project SNOWstorm, a snowy owl-tracking organization run in part through the Millersburg-based Ned Smith Center of Nature and Art.
The same four-year, boom cycle of lemmings - preferred prey of the owls - and snowy owls in northern Quebec that preceded the 2013-14 mass irruption of snowy owls south into the U.S. It was an irruption of snowy owls beyond any witnessed since the 1920s, or maybe the 1890s,
And, just as in 2013-14, many snowy owls have already turned up this year in the Northeast and Upper Midwest. A few have been confirmed in Pennsylvania. According to Scott Weidensaul, one of the directors of Project SNOWstorm, in the past few days there's been an unconfirmed sighting reported in Dauphin County.
Comment: Also noteworthy is the fact that at least 69 individual birds have recently been recorded across Wisconsin. Additionally, it's perhaps interesting that the standard interpretation for these influxes doesn't seem to be holding true in recent years - that these invasions occur in 4 year cycles because of successful breeding fueled by periodic high numbers of lemming prey in the Arctic. This cyclic pattern looks to have disappeared this decade, see : SOTT Exclusive: Snowy owls flee northern latitudes for unprecedented fourth consecutive year - Sign of impending Ice Age?