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One of the world’s largest owls was spotted off the Cork coast this weekend, far from its usual arctic home among polar bears and reindeer.
The impressive Snowy Owl, which will remind any Hogwarts fan of Harry Potter’s mascot Hedwig, was photographed by Aidan Fleming in Cobh, making it the last of 91 total sightings of the incredible creature in Ireland since records began.
It is possible that the owl traveled aboard a boat from its native habitat, the arctic tundra. However, with an impressive wingspan of nearly five feet, it’s also likely flown all the way to Cork, which accounts for the well-deserved black-headed gull sandwich you’re investigating in the photo.
Jim Wilson from BirdWatch’s Ireland branch in Cork told Cork Beo: “We get calls all the time here from people who have seen strange looking birds, and 99.999 percent of the time it is a common bird, it is they just never seen it before.
“I got a message about someone who saw an owl at night, they said they googled it and thought it was a snowy owl. Now they live in the Tundra, far north. I thought it was probably a barn owl. They have a similar color. “.
However, when Jim was shown a photo of the bird, he knew in an instant that it was actually a snowy owl.
This is as far as possible from where they normally are, “he said.
“It’s a crazy bird. The plumage tells us it’s an adult female or, more likely, a young female or male,” Jim continued. “A young bird has a tendency to stray further from home than adults.
“The days are short so far north, it’s dark for most of the day and so they tend to move south to hunt, but generally they don’t move that far south,” he added.
“It may have been caught in one of the many storms we’ve had in the last few weeks, it’s very possible. A few years ago, a bald eagle crossed the Atlantic from America on its own.
“Another possibility is that it may have landed on a ship during a storm and when the ship reached Cork, the owl saw the bright lights and shot out and reached Cobh.”
Jim added that their arrival in Ireland cannot be fully linked to climate change as it is such a rare occurrence, and said they should be detected in greater numbers for that to be cause for concern.
“It is an outlier for now, it is a phenomenon in many ways, as it should not be here.”
Jim said that while he may have escaped from a falconry or sanctuary, the fact that he has caught his own prey makes this possibility unlikely.
“If someone lost this owl, they would also let them know,” he said.
Snowy owls can weigh up to 3 kg, making it a very heavy bird compared to the Irish Barn Owl. The white feathers with black specks help camouflage the bird in the snow, while the male snowy owl is completely white.
They mostly feed on small rodents and lemmings, so the seagull he hid here in Cork may be a delicacy in itself for the owl. They mainly hunt during the day, they also feast on some shorebirds that spend the winters in Ireland.
Jim said the owl is most likely still in Cork, although he said the “very mobile” bird could have flown to Waterford or even Donegal since then.
“Cork people should be vigilant, as it could appear anywhere, not just by the sea, as it could have gone inland as well. They like mountainous habitats as it is similar to tundra and they can see everything around. Not so much in forests, but by the sea and in mountainous areas is where you can see this. “
Jim says that he would like to have seen the impressive creature himself, as the sighting was very close to his own home in Cobh.
“This is what makes bird watching such a great hobby. You just don’t know what will happen next!”
For more information on Bird Watch Ireland Cork, click here
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