A traffic camera has captured a spectacular image of a snowy owl in full flight.

The picture is one of a series taken by a CCTV camera on Highway 40 in the West Island of Montreal, on 3 January.

The Quebec Transport Minister, Robert Poetin, then shared the photos on Twitter, writing: “Magnificent snowy owl picked up by surveillance cameras of the road network on the A-40 in the West of MTL."

Barbara Frei, director of the McGill Bird Observatory, told the CBC that the bird was likely looking for somewhere to perch:

“I think they are attracted specifically to the highway because it has open, grassy fields nearby which is perfect for hunting their favourite prey, which is small rodents,” she said. “They like to get a good lay of the land and the high lamp posts or other posts that they can perch on while hunting just suits them perfectly.”

Although the bird breeds only in the arctic tundra of Quebec, in winter, they tend to migrate further south.


The snowy owl has special significance in Canada, where it has legal protection from hunters and is the official symbol of Quebec.
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The ghostlike snowy owl has unmistakable white plumage that echoes its Arctic origins. 

These large owls breed on the Arctic tundra, where females lay a clutch of 3 to 11 eggs. Clutch size depends upon the availability of food, and in particularly lean times a usually monogamous pair of owls may not breed at all. Parents are territorial and will defend their nests against all comers—even wolves.

Young owls, especially males, get whiter as they get older. Females are darker than males, with dusky spotting, and never become totally white. Some elderly males do become completely white, though many retain small flecks of dusky plumage.

The snowy owl is a patient hunter that perches and waits to identify its prey before soaring off in pursuit. Snowy owls have keen eyesight and great hearing, which can help them find prey that is invisible under thick vegetation or snowcover. The owls deftly snatch their quarry with their sharp talons.

But after a day's worth of somewhat tempered updates about the raptor's condition, City Wildlife -- the rehabilitation center caring for the injured bird -- has released some amazing photos on Facebook, along with a cautiously optimistic message on the animal's prognosis.

City Wildlife said over Twitter that the snowy owl "is in stable condition and continues to receive pain medication, antibiotics, fluids, and food."

Anne Lewis, president of the center, tells HuffPost that their staff is preparing to do x-rays, but hasn't taken them yet. Blood work has been sent out -- requests have been made that the tests be expedited -- which will tell, among other things, the bird's sex.


The owl had a broken talon and blood on its beak when it was brought in for care. The toe has been treated, and caretakers are now "most concerned about internal injury and rodenticide poisoning," says Lewis, a possibility since it has been seen eating rats in D.C.'s McPherson Square. (You might recall that this is the park where Occupy DC once made its encampment; rats were cited as a cause of concern at that time.)


UPDATE Head over to the Washington Post for the story of how two D.C. police officers, Lauren Griffin and Othneil Blagrove, tracked the owl for two hours, after it was hit by a bus in the early hours of Thursday morning, and finally got the injured animal to safety.
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People cheered for snowy owl Century, released at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge.

Norman Smith stood in front of more than 100 people on Plum Island Saturday afternoon with a majestic snowy owl in his hand. The owl, dubbed Century, was the 100th snowy owl captured at Logan International Airport, relocated, and released this winter.

Smith, director of the Massachusetts Audubon Society Blue Hills Trailside Museum and an owl expert, let Century go. Her wings spread and rapidly flapped to elevate her high above the gathered group. The strong wind took her, and she glided gracefully out over the dunes and marshes of the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge until she was out of sight.

Although Century was the 100th snowy owl captured at Logan, Smith said 36 owls were also caught in other locations, bringing the total to 136. Last year, Smith said, a total of eight were captured.


Every owl caught for relocation is banded with a satellite transmitter — a lightweight device banded to the owl’s back to track its travels with a GPS signal. The small box does not cause the owl pain or discomfort, and the signal can last 11 years, Smith said. With the devices, Smith, Turner, and others can track each owl’s journey and study patterns.


The oldest owl found with a transmitter was 16 years old, he said. Smith has been tracking the owls he catches with transmitters since 1997, which provide data on location, temperature, and altitude of each journey.

“Why do they come to the airport?” asked Smith. “I’ve caught over 560 snowy owls in the past 32 years, I’ve asked every single one, none have responded.”
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Snowy owls are a rarity in the Kentuckiana region. For several days, a snowy owl has been spotted near the Gene Snyder and Westport Road area in eastern Jefferson County.

The snow owl is 2,500 miles away from his arctic home. “The morning we caught him he was standing next to the pavement trucks [and they] were going by him, he wasn’t moving,” Sally Seyal from Raptor Rehabilitation of Kentucky said.

The animal was brought to the Raptor Rehabilitation of Kentucky facility weighing just over 2.5 pounds and about 1 to 4 pounds under weight. “We’re happy that he’s survived for two days because he may have very well died initially. He’s still in kind of critical – he’s that thin,” Seyal said. It’s believed the owl migrated south looking for food but scientists are still trying to figure out the reason for this unusual visit this far south.

The malnourished owl is being fed through a tube. “It’s actually baby food mixed with lactated ringers which is a sugar in electrolytes which is what they give patients in surgery,” Seyal said. Volunteers at the rehabilitation center say it could take as long as three months to for the owl to fully recover.


 It’s a really good sign that he’s feeling better and getting stronger,” Seyal added. Volunteers are deciding to whether release the snowy owl locally or transport it up north to release it back into the wild.
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The snowy owl was captured on camera with one leg outstretched behind it while it balanced on one claw.

But, the beautiful bird may just have been stretching after it woke up to freezing temperatures of -20C in Montreal, Canada.

Wildlife photographer Yves Adams battled the freezing winds to capture the incredible shots on camera - after following the bird all day.

Mr Adams, from Belgium, said: ‘I had seen the owl hunting in the area for a few days, so I tried to follow him, as he'd obviously found a good spot.

‘I really wanted to get close to this bird, so I crawled very slowly through the snow, protected in my down clothing, for an hour or so.

‘Eventually I came pretty close, maybe 15metres away, but the owl was very relaxed. It was a beautiful thing to see, even if it was very cold, lying on the snow.

‘Although the bird was in a deep sleep, his peeping eyes recorded every movement I made.


‘Suddenly he woke up, and stretched. This all happened in seconds, so I had to react very very fast.

‘I have a lot of respect for these northern birds. I was able to retreat to my warm hotel room each night, but this bird had to stay out all night, often with strong blizzards at night, with very low temperatures.’
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