Máistir Nádúraí: Columbia!

4.13.2021

Columbia!

"She remembered who she was and the game changed."

― Lalah Delia

So, this is pretty incredible. I photographed the above Snowy Owl on January 1st, 2020, not far from Goose Pond near Arlington, Wisconsin. Only days later it was captured, fitted with a transmitter, and released for Project SNOWSTORM. This adult female snowy was given the name Columbia, and she spent the remainder of the winter in pretty much the same hunting area. When it was time to leave she made an amazing ~2,200-mile journey north as far north as Russell Island, an uninhabited island of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. When fall came, she headed back down to the US, spending this past winter in the northwest corner of Iowa.

Here's where she is as of a few days ago, on her way back north:

And her incredible 2020-2021 overwintering hunting grounds near Spencer, Iowa:

Bio:

Mike McDowell has been documenting southern Wisconsin’s flora and fauna since 1987 and began leading field trips in 2002. Prolific at Pheasant Branch Conservancy, other highlighted natural areas include Pope Farm Conservancy, Spring Green Preserve, and the Baraboo Hills. His nature photography has appeared in various publications, newspapers, magazines and was even featured on a Wisconsin Endangered Resources license plate, a Capital Brewery beer label, and a National Geographic publication. He began journaling nature observations on this blog in 2005. He's the recipient of the 2012 Bronze Passenger Pigeon Award from the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, presented to individuals who have made outstanding contributions in their local communities or state to promote the field of ornithology. He was a finalist in Swarovski’s Digiscoper of the Year photography contest several times. His other interests include insect macro-photography (especially tiger beetles, treehoppers, and robber flies), fossil collecting, amateur astronomy, botany, natural history, and marksmanship with long-range firearms. Once a gigging musician, collecting Fender Stratocasters is a recently revived interest—most prized being a 1957 Vintage Custom 'Mary Kaye' White Blonde. A former IT Professional, he's spent the last 24 years employed in the sport optics industry and has more binoculars than you.