Coming in from the North too
From The Toronto Star
Invasion of snowy owls in Toronto a concern for airports
A second irruption of the predatory birds in as many years is keeping Pearson International’s wildlife managers busy capturing and relocating “snowies
Pearson also has 12 raptor traps to capture troublesome owls. Shevalier said the company catches them live, records their sex and age, tags them and relocates them up to 70 kilometres away.
“Usually, we get about a 2 per cent return rate,” Shevalier said. “The sooner you relocate them, the sooner they’re gone for good. They don’t habituate to the airport. They’ll find food elsewhere.”
At Pearson, 17 snowy owls were trapped and relocated in November and December, close to half the number trapped between October and April of last year.
Only one snowy owl has been spotted at the island airport so far. Birds are not as much of an issue there, Toronto Port Authority communications officer Katie Ostler said in an email.
“We do use falcons on occasion to keep other birds away from operations,” Ostler wrote.
Bird management is a big concern at airports, one not limited to snowy owls, Kevin Kerr, curator of birds and invertebrates at the Toronto Zoo, told the Star earlier this year.
Each year there are about 6,000 bird strikes in the U.S., and about 1,500 in Canada. The issue drew public attention when a passenger plane crashed into the Hudson River in 2009 after hitting a flock of Canada geese.
Last year’s irruption was the result of a spike in owl births, said Ralph Toninger, manager of habitat restoration with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. The probable cause of this year’s irruption is a decline in the lemming population, the snowy owl’s preferred prey, he said.
Toninger says it’s too early to say whether the influx will eclipse last year’s. “It’s next to impossible to predict. Usually it doesn’t happen multiple years in a row,” he said.
With the snowies could come other birds of prey affected by a decreased lemming population and seeking food to the south of their normal range, including great gray owls, northern hawk owls and boreal owls, among others, said Toninger. In Toronto, these migrated owls are most commonly found along the waterfront, particularly the Leslie Spit.
Shevalier said snowies have been spotted as far south as the Bahamas, a dangerous place for a creature without sweat glands, arriving exhausted by the long trip.
With the prospect of more feathered friends looming, all airports can do is be proactive about wildlife management, he said.
“We have a dedicated trapper on to relocate the snowy owls. The airports are trying to be ahead of the game by looking ahead and being safety conscious by trapping the owls.”
