A Rare Glimpse of Disappearing Snowy Owls

On the northernmost spit of land in the United States sits the tiny town of Utqiaġvik, Alaska. The surrounding inland expanse of tundra reaching back towards the roots of the Brooks Range is home to one of the historically most robust and well-documented populations of nesting Snowy Owls in the world. The Owl Research Institute seeks to answer how climate change has affected Snowy Owls, their ecosystems, and to help their populations thrive once again.

Photos by Discovery Explorers Club Grantee: Max Lowe

May 22, 2023

By: Max Lowe

From: The Explorers Club

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Denver Holt, founder of the Owl Research Institute has been here on the ground documenting the owls as they pair off, nest, and fledge chicks every summer since 1992, now 31 years.

The Snowy Owl Breeding Ecology and Lemming Population Study began in Barrow, Alaska, in 1992.

Although Denver’s work getting hands-on with the tiny fluffy owls as they grow into the white denizens of the north known around the world is first a personal passion, his scientific tenure has proven consistent change in the population of owls in his study area, and the environment they exist as a part of.

During the summer of 2021, across the 100-square-mile area that Denver monitors, only single nest-fledged chicks where there were once upwards of 54 successful nesting pairs of
owls. However, the Snowy Owl population has declined 64% since 1970.

When nestlings hatch, they are about the size of a tangerine – and are covered with small, soft, white feathers called down. Over the next couple of weeks, they will grow rapidly.

Adult male snowy owls are pure white, while females are white with dark bars or spots.

Their diets consist of mostly rodents, birds, and, sometimes small mammals.

Of what has caused the change, Denver can only speculate from scientific observation. As the Arctic continues to warm in the face of our changing climate, the larger picture of our shifting world as it rests on the lives of these enigmatic species we know and love becomes
heavier.