Snowy Owls Coming South For Food, Say Experts

Arctic owls in New Jersey

Arctic-dwelling snowy owls are turning up in unusually large numbers in the Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Refuge in Galloway Township, N.J. this year. The large owl species ordinarily do not migrate this far south....

Some people as far south as Tenessee might be surprised to see an unusual bird in their backyards this spring. Great Snowy Owls have been spotted this year in some very extraordinary places, thanks to what experts are saying is a perfectly normal occurrence in nature, according to CBS.

There has been an especially wild influx of the beautiful creatures in New Jersey. They have been attracting large crowds to the Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Refuge in Galloway Township just outside Atlantic City.

“It’s certainly a special big year for snowy owls,” Donald Freiday with the US Fish and Wildlife Service said of the phenomena. “We think that the reason there are so many snowy owls in New Jersey… is because they had a really good year this year up in the Arctic where they breed. And when that happens, they produce lots of offspring. There’s competition for food among them and they come south as a result.”

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