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Most living creatures -- including humans -- don't migrate to Metro Detroit during the winter months. An exception is the black and white snowy owl from the Arctic.
Snowy owl (DepositPhotos file image)
Metro Times editor Lee Devito writes:
If you're lucky, you may have spotted a relatively unusual sight in Detroit lately: the striking black and white snowy owl, visiting from the arctic tundra in northern Canada. One has taken up a regular roost on the rooftop of One Woodward Avenue, much to the delight of Quicken Loans employees. One woman even found one perched on top of her car parked outside the post office, and others have been spotted hunting throughout the city and suburbs.
Bailey Lininger, a program coordinator at Detroit Audubon, says the birds are just visiting — they're here due to an irregular migration event known as an irruption, caused by a population boom in their arctic home. They'll hang out for the winter and eat, and will fly back up north to breed in the spring.
"There's less snow here than there is in the tundra right now, so it's easier for them to find food," she says. "And there's less competition because the more mature birds are up on the tundra."
