MONTANA NATURAL HERITAGE PROGRAM
they were there, and there were many. Perhaps there was simply no need to broaden the palette.
SHRINKING OWL HABITAT
• Blue dots are all records in MT, 1949-2010 • Pink dots are 2005-6 sightings.
remains (more than 5,400 prey items). Clues, such as skulls and upper palates containing teeth, were essential to deter- mining what birds and mammals the owls had eaten. Why so many voles? During the irruption, voles were at a peak in their population fluctuations: Quite simply,
Then there is the most mysterious of questions: How did the Snowy Owls know where to show up? They couldn’t possibly have predicted where the voles were going to be, yet they had managed to hone in on spots with high concentrations of the rodents. The owls came and they roosted, they hunted and ate. And then, like the last floes of melting snow, they were gone.
Caroline Deppe serves as Program Coordinator for the Owl Research Institute (www.owlinstitute.org), based in Charlo, Montana. She likes living in a state that boasts 15 species of owls.
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DISTINCTLY MONTANA • SPRING 2011
