The Irruptive Behavior of Snowy Owls
Nothing in nature stays the same. Nature is always in flux and is best described as being fluid and adaptive. Once you wrap your head around these simple truths, I believe answering some of nature’s questions becomes easier. Every few years, a number of bird species such as Common Redpoll, Pine Siskin, Evening Grosbeak and others will move out of their normal winter ranges and move into other areas seeking food. This group of birds is often referred to as the “winter finches”. This mass movement of a group of birds is called an irruption. The study of irruption behavior is difficult at best because researchers are dealing with an event that happens irregularly and difficult to predict. In addition, the birds are moving great distances making tracking them more difficult. In the past we have associated the irruption of the winter finches due to a lack of food in their home range. These birds feed upon the seeds from conifer trees. We people are often looking for reasons behind every behavior we witness in nature and so the lack of food was a perfectly good explanation of the winter finch irruptive behavior.
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