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Calgary birding boom: Increase in bird enthusiasts hoping to find snowy owls

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More and more people have taken up the hobby of birding during the pandemic, with many hoping to find the sometimes elusive snowy owl.

"The people coming out on Nature Calgary’s bird trips, the numbers went up five times last year and it’s really great," said Howard Hefler, a Nature Calgary member.

Hefler and Kaya Konopnicki, also with Nature Calgary, are scouring the country backroads trying to spot some snowy owls. The birds are here from the Arctic looking for food and will be here until the spring when they return north for nesting.

"Right now they’re just wandering from field to field trying to eat as many mice and voles and small rodents as they can get so they wander from place to place," said Konopnicki.

Almost a decade ago, there was a snowy owl boom in southern Alberta, but most times they remain elusive and are difficult to find.

"The first thing you do is look with your eye and try and see something that might look like a rounded white thing," said Hefler.

"And then the next step is to look with our binocular and then we put our spotting scope on the bird and we try to get him in the field of view."

Hefler says it can take two to three hours until a snowy owl is spotted, if one is lucky.

"Patience, good eyesight and if you have two to three people looking it helps as well."

If the owls are far in the field, they may look small. But they can actually grow up to 60 centimetres in size with a wingspan of more than a metre.

Konopnicki says it’s important to make sure to leave quickly after taking photos and refrain from revealing the exact location of the birds to try to minimize the number of people overwhelming the location and possibly disturbing the animals.

Nature Calgary says the peak time to see snowy owls is in January and February. For more information on birding field trips, visit www.naturecalgary.com.

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