[mou] MSP airport Snowy Owls

[Alt, Mark]

The Snowies continue to show activity at dawn. On Sunday, 1/15, Peter
Neubeck and I were at the airport  from 7:15 AM till 9:00 AM. We saw
three Snowy Owls, 2 at 7:20 AM and one at 7:30 AM, all three lifted off
from the area to the west of the Glycol plant on Cargo Rd and flew out
of sight towards the main terminal.  It was windy, and some of these
birds exhibited extended soaring flight while heading into the wind.
Their broad thick wings are able to make good headway into the winds,
which I estimate at 15 - 20 mph. Stalled flight was observed twice, one
ending in the bird dropping a wingtip, veering to the right and dropping
form 100 ft to 40 feet, then resuming a steady flapping flight. The
other stalled for about 5 seconds, wings motionless, then looped like a
Red-tail and stalled again, flapped ahead in a steady decline, gradually
losing altitude until out of view. These are big birds, wings as big as
a red-tail with a body twice the bulk, and I imagine these winds wreak
havoc with them. Early morning is the only time I have witnessed this
greater than 20 feet high flight pattern, and I have now seen it on 4
different days. When the birds are moving about on the runways during
the day, they fly directly and very low.  Peter and I spent the next few
hours trying to reacquire the owls from other access points in the
airport, to no avail. If we had shown up after 7:30 AM, we would have
seen no owls. Early to bed, early to rise, the only way to see Snowy
flybys! Good Birding!

Mark Alt
Brooklyn Center, MN
Hennepin County