Editor’s note: It’s quite exhilarating to spot a bird species not frequently seen. But when a fine feathered friend from the Arctic, the Snowy Owl, is spotted in the United States, it’s considered a “lifer.” It’s so rare that it’s likely the birder will only see the bird once in a lifetime. On a bitterly cold day in early March in 2014, I spotted a beautiful Snowy Owl perched high in a tree in southeastern Michigan. It was magical. Below is the article, first published in 2014, from that experience. The article has been updated and edited.
Jan. 26, 2026 – In 2014, Kerwin Leader braved below freezing temperatures in southeastern Michigan late on a Friday afternoon to shovel snow – and ice – from his driveway. Unbeknownst to him, though, he had a visitor watching him. Perched at the top of a tree in his backyard was a beautiful Snowy Owl, a species of migratory bird with an Arctic habitat that is sporadically seen in North America.
Snowy Owls – Winter Migration from the Arctic
For birders, people who love to watch and hear birds wherever they are, winter 2013-2014 was anything but brutal. Forget the polar vortex, the snow rollers whipped into shape by crazy amounts of snow and high winds, and inhumane subzero temperatures in the double digits that had many northern cities in a deep freezer for many days. All of these challenging conditions are minor annoyances when a birder has a chance to see a Snowy Owl, the owl made famous by Harry Potter.
On their own volition, birders beave North America’s version of frozen tundra each winter to log a lifer, a bird so rare one can only expect to see one in his or her lifetime. Seeing a Snowy Owl is a lifer for birders.
As birds of prey, Snowy Owls are also nomadic migratory birds. Unlike the rare Kirtland’s warbler that basks in the Bahamas for the winter and then migrates north like clockwork in the spring to their nesting grounds (jack pine forests) in central/northern Michigan and Canada, Snowy Owls are nomads. Some years large numbers of Snowy Owls migrate south and other years, only a few decide to make the journey.
Snowy Owl Habitat Requirements
Their nomadic behavior seems to be determined by a combination of available prey and the weather. Their food of choice is the lemming, a rodent. A Snowy Owl can eat 3-5 lemmings per day. When lemmings are in short supply in the Arctic, Snowy Owls, particularly young (juvenile) males, will migrate south to southern Canada and northern portions of the United States although Snowy Owls have been seen as far south as Florida and Texas. Imagine basking like a warbler on a Florida beach during the winter and seeing a Snowy Owl!
About every four years, an “irruption” of Snowy Owls occurs. Snowy Owls had a banner irruptive year in 2014 in the United States. According to the Great Backyard Bird Count, GBBC, an international event sponsored by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the 2014 Snowy Owl migration qualified as a “massive irruption.” Over four days in mid-February, birders reported spotting more than 2,500 Snowy Owls in 25 states and seven provinces in Canada.
As carnivores, when Snowy Owls cannot find lemmings, the owls will eat mice, other rodents, birds, and even ground squirrels. From their high perch, Snowy Owls find their prey with a keen sense of hearing and sight. They can rotate their heads 270 degrees to look for prey and will sometimes sit in the same place for hours at a time. As diurnal animals, Snowy Owls hunt both day and night unlike most other owls that are nocturnal animals. Snowy Owls have few predators and can live in the wild, on average, for about nine to 10 years.
The Snowy Owl perched in his tree put an end to Kerwin’s snow shoveling. Kerwin and his wife, Mary Ann, watched in awe as the Snowy Owl sat with authority at the top of the tree. The Leader’s cat making noise at the bottom of the tree did not seem to bother the owl but after about 45 minutes in the tree, the owl took flight.
With the sun setting against brilliant blue skies on a bitterly cold day, it was certainly a lifer and so magical it would not have been a surprise to see Harry Potter appear on the scene to retrieve Hedwig, his Snowy Owl!