Hedwig is gone, but her kin lives on!
Are you one of the fans of Harry Potter's Snowy Owl? And do you feel sorry for the loss of Hedwig? Do not despair! Now you can follow the relatives of this famous and magnificent bird, as they wander across the Arctic.
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| Click on the pictures for larger size and information. | |
This summer, three adult snowy owls, nicknamed Albertine, Høst and Yngvar (the two first are females, the last a male), were equipped with satellite transmitters in Northern Norway. They were all breeding, but food became scarce when the chicks were hatching, and only a few of the offspring survived.
Snowy owls are the largest raptors of the high Arctic. They have specilized on a diet of lemmings and other rodents, but when food get scarce, they may even hunt big birds. However, to start breeding they need rodents, and when they are not to be found, the snowy owls may migrate thousands of kilometers to find their preferred prey.
Snowy owls equipped with satellite transmitters in 1999 in Barrow, Alaska, crossed the Bering Strait the following autumn, and spent the next summer along the Russian Arctic coast. One year later they were back in Arctic Canada! Due to the satellite transmitters of Albertine, Høst and Yngvar we now have the opportunity to find out if Scandinavian snowy owls participate in the same kind of long migrations between breeding seasons. They may fly to Russia, Greenland, or even to the British Islands, but hitherto we have had no means of knowing.
From now on you have the possibility to follow this epic adventure! Visit this web site and follow Albertine, Høst and Yngvar. If you live in the far north, they may even come to a hunting field close to You!
Until late August, the snowy owls stayed on their breeding grounds. Thereafter they moved 40-80 km to other mountain areas, where they have stayed until the most recent satellite plots on the 14th of October. The solar panel powered transmitters of Albertine and Høst have not transmitted signals since mid September, probably due to dusky winter light conditions.