Snowy Owls in Idaho

from http://www.birds-of-north-america.net

A couple of weeks ago I was leaving a friends house in Deary, ID late in the evening and I saw a very large, white bird fly over my car. My gut told me it was a Snowy owl. Now, I've never seen a snowy owl but tend to trust my gut when birding. There really isn't anything else it could have been either as it was night, the bird was quite large and all white. So, I saw my first snowy owl! I got home and decided to look into their range during migration. I knew they came south into the states in the winter but never thought I would see one. Then I discovered that this is a rather unusual year for snowy owls in the lower 48 states. Apparently we are experiencing a rather large irruption of the birds and they have been spotted as far south as Oklahoma. Lots of places in Montana, Washington, and Idaho have reported large flocks of the owls. Rather than a few solitary sightings, dozens are being spotted and people are turning their scopes and binoculars on these beautiful birds.

Here is an article from Reuters about the phenomenon. Science rocks!