Snowy winter in N.S. pushing tiny saw-whet owls into more populated areas
CBC
The snow that has blanketed much of Nova Scotia this winter is pushing some of the province’s smallest owls into more human-populated areas to seek food.
The snow cover means the tiny Northern saw-whet owl, which is smaller than a robin, has had difficulty hunting its preferred diet of mice, voles and shrews, says Randy Lauff, a biology instructor at St. Francis Xavier University who studies boreal and Northern saw-whet owls.
Lauff says owls in general have good eyesight and exceptional hearing.
"So they come with a background of armaments for predation that is matched by nothing else," Lauff says.
Larger owls in particular are able to hear rodents scurrying around even under 30 or more centimetres of snow, and they can use their bulk and strength to plunge through deep snow to nab their prey with uncanny precision.
Saw-whets, however, can’t do that to the same degree due to their small size.
Lauff says their difficulty hunting food means saw-whets are being spotted more frequently this winter in rural or urban yards with bird feeders.
But it’s not the seed they’re after. It’s the mice or even small, sparrow-sized birds that are attracted to the feeders that saw-whets are interested in.
Although it may feel like Nova Scotia has had deeper and longer-lasting snow this winter, CBC meteorologist Ryan Snoddon says so far, we're pretty much on par with most winters — although that could change with the additional snowfall the province received on Monday.
Hatfield Farm in Hammonds Plains, N.S., recently spotted a saw-whet owl on its property for the first time.
The owl got into one of the barns and perched up in the rafters for a few days before moving on.
Owner Cherie Hatfield says she imagines it was looking for "small critters" hanging around the barn.
"It's been a lot of snow cover and we know that lots of predators are out looking for food these days," Hatfield says. "I'm sure everybody's trying to survive the winter."
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