{"id":6929,"date":"2016-01-18T07:16:43","date_gmt":"2016-01-18T12:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.massaudubon.org\/yourgreatoutdoors\/?p=6929"},"modified":"2016-02-12T10:55:06","modified_gmt":"2016-02-12T15:55:06","slug":"another-successful-snowy-owl-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.massaudubon.org\/yourgreatoutdoors\/another-successful-snowy-owl-release\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Successful Snowy Owl Release"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, in the early morning while most of us were sleeping, Norman Smith, Sanctuary Director at Mass Audubon\u2019s Blue Hills Trailside Museum<\/a>, was at Logan Airport. He wasn\u2019t there to catch a flight, though. He was there to catch a snowy owl.<\/p>\n

Snowy owls are drawn to the airport due to its tundra-like landscape, which mimics their summer breeding grounds in the Arctic, and plenty of rodents to dine on.\u00a0Over the last 35 years,\u00a0Smith has relocated some 700\u00a0snowy owls.<\/p>\n

Smith left the airport on Saturday with an adult male owl. Upon further inspection, he discovered it had a band, one that Smith placed on the owl in March 2014. (As a side note, last winter Smith captured an owl that he originally banded 23 years ago!)<\/p>\n

\"Norman

Norman Smith, with the help of his granddaughters, releases Salisbury.<\/p><\/div>\n

Before releasing the owl on Sunday at Salisbury Beach State Reservation, Smith gave “Salisbury”\u00a0a new, high-tech gadget: a solar-paneled transmitter\u00a0courtesy of Project SNOWstorm<\/a>. This\u00a0allows Smith, the researchers at Project SNOWstorm, and the public to track and study the owl<\/a> as it travels back north to its breeding grounds.<\/p>\n

Read about the\u00a0release in the Boston Globe<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and find out more about the Snowy Owl Project<\/a>, including how you can support this important\u00a0work.<\/p>\n

Watch a video of the release<\/h3>\n