While we didn’t have a white Christmas this year in Leelanau County, another rare sight, an adult male snowy owl, was found and rescued off the side of the road in December and is now being nursed back to health.
Leelanau county resident Robin Boeske-Dubord was driving on M-72 in Empire on Dec. 20 when herself, daughters, and husband, Eric, found the lone owl appearing to struggle alongside the road. However, another young woman had already stopped with her vehicle headlights facing the owl to see if there was anything she could do, and that’s when Dubord decided to pull over to check out what was happening. Dubord’s first thoughts were immediate concern for the safety of the bird, but she and her husband knew they had to call someone with expertise to better assist with the situation.
“Both my girls and I thought ‘well, something must have happened to this owl, he must be injured,’ and he also looked very tiny,” Dubord said. “Come to find out later, he hadn’t eaten or drank and he flew so far, he was just a little guy — He’d (the owl) go across the road and stay low to the ground and he wasn’t going very far. He was kind of just bouncing back and forth… It was pretty cool because it is a unique situation when you don’t see them very often. They’re pretty incredible and resilient animals to make that kind of journey.”
Dubord said her husband, Eric, called North Sky Raptor Sanctuary, a rehabilitation center in Grand Traverse County, and Kaitlyn Bohnet, sanctuary founder, was able to drive out within a half an hour of getting the call to take in and care for its first snowy owl of the season.
“They (North Sky Raptor Sanctuary) were very excited, apparently the snowy owl population has been kind of low, and it’s been incredibly rare to see one. So she was excited we had called so she could help him out,” Dubord explained. “When Kaitlyn and her friend got there, my husband and them kind of followed it straight down the main road in Empire, the owl kind of kept doing small little spurts… she (Kaitlyn) was so great, because she walked back and let us all look at it. We were given the whole scoop on how they work and what they do and gave all of us and the kids stickers.”
Once the owl was assessed, the sanctuary reported that it was in a lethargic state and dehydrated, malnourished, and exhausted from its southern migration. Snowy owls are Arctic breeders and migrate south for the winter, giving Michiganders a chance to get a glimpse of them in open areas during the colder months. These owls can be found in habitats that are similar to the arctic tundra such as near Great Lakes shorelines, open fields, marshes, beaches and dunes. According to the American Bird Conservancy, snowy owls are vulnerable and there are less than 30,000 in North America and about 200,000 globally.
Now the Empire snowy owl is recovering at the sanctuary and getting the medical attention that he needs before being released back into the wild. Dubord said once the owl is fully rehabilitated, Kaitlyn at the sanctuary would let her know when she would release him in Empire since that was his ultimate goal.
“I’m excited to see him make his way back out into Empire and be our little winter staple… She had mentioned having my girls figure out where they think a good spot would be in an open field to let him spend his winter,” she said. “We’ll keep in touch with her until she lets us know when he’s ready to go. She said it would be about two weeks, so I have to imagine it’s coming up pretty soon here… I’ll definitely update when it happens. It’ll be fun to see him back out where he’s supposed to be.”
If people are concerned a raptor needs medical attention, they can call North Sky Raptor Sanctuary at 231-994-3908, or follow the organization’s Facebook page for updates on how the snowy owl and other rescues are doing.
