Snowy owls have been spotted in unusual places across the Lower 48 this year, and the cause has been a mystery. But now Alaska has its own mysterious owl event, the Anchorage Daily News reports.
Several species of usually shy, unsocial owls have been gathering in a large patch of Anchorage woodland by Cook Inlet at the end of Northern Lights Boulevard, near Ted Stevens International Airport. Owls have been spotted along the Coastal Trail, in Kincaid Park and as far south as Huffman Road.
The congress of owls is big news among birders and photographers, and some have reported seeing five owl species in a single day, something extremely rare under normal circumstances.
Great gray owls, boreal owls, Northern saw-whet, short-eared and Northern hawk owls have all been seen, and what's more unusual is that they've been seen together.
"It is definitely unusual to see smaller owls hanging out with larger owls," Sue Guers, a wildlife biologist with the Alaska Bird Observatory in Fairbanks, told the Anchorage Daily News.
But the snow cover in the Anchorage area has been anything but normal this year. And a prime guess about why these owls are gathering so openly, though no one knows for sure, is that they're having trouble hearing their prey under all that white stuff.
Grab your binoculars and read much, much more, here.