Made popular by the Harry Potter series, elusive Snowy owls are the subject of fascination for many. With broad wings for powerful, graceful flight and beautiful, downy coats, Snowy owls are among some of the most dignified of the owl species.
Thanks to a researcher and his desire to be able to study the bird's behavior 24/7, a high-tech camera was set up to do just that.
Explore.org is offering live videos of a Snowy owl's nest up near Barrow, Alaska. The female owl protects six chicks at this nesting site and shows off its beauty for viewers everywhere. Denver Holt, a researcher at the Owl Research Institute in Charlo, Montana, has been studying snowy owls for 23 years. The camera, for him, is a huge asset for behavioral observations and projects.
Holt told CBCNews that the camera "opens up another avenue and more periods of time we're able to look and record."
For researchers like Holt who study rarely spotted birds like the majestic Snowy owl, cameras set up in strategic locations such as nesting sites, where the birds are known to spend their time, offer incredible opportunities to observe crucial features of the species' behavior and habits. Holt is inspired and excited about the camera footage, which shows the mother owl constantly protecting her young and rarely sleeping.
Snowy owls spend their summers up north in the Arctic, the females nesting and protecting their chicks and the males gathering food. They venture to southern (but still cold) areas in the winters. They are difficult to spot and are well adapted to the cold, with thick feathers that camouflage well in snowy backdrops. Often, when watchers believe they've seen one, what they are likely seeing is a Barn owl.
Charles Annenberg Weingarten, founder of explore.org, the website responsible for the live-stream of the Snowy owl, told The Associated Press that the live cams are "building out the zoos of the future, where animals run wild and people from everywhere can feel connected to the experience."
