The Minnesota Snowy Owl that has been tracked by GPS signals since Jan. 26 has moved to a location west of Cosmos, Minnesota. That is a shift 15 miles west-northwest from its previous site south of Hutchinson. It moved to Hutch from its long-time location in Ramsey, Minnesota, west of Anoka, where it was netted and given its transmitter. This bird is named Ramsey. It is one of 21 Snowy Owls equipped with transmitters by ProjectSNOWstorm, based in Pennsylvania. The project was initiated when the owls began being seen in the eastern U.S. by the hundreds earlier this winter. The owls and the technology came together as a unique opportunity to follow movement of these birds. You can track Ramsey and the other owls at www.projectSNOWstorm.org.

Below is an image (©ProjectSNOWstorm and Google) from the project website showing the movements of an owl located in urban Baltimore. The transmitter on this bird was set to record location every 30 seconds instead of 30 minutes. The illustration shows movements over a two-hour period.

ProjectSNOWstorm will follow the birds as they move back north to breeding grounds. Information is sent to project headquarters via cell-phone technology. The data is downloaded whenever the birds are within range of a cell-phone tower. Yes, there are few if any cell towers in Arctic Canda, but the transmitters can collect and store thousands of pieces of location data for transmission when possible.

You also can use the website to make a contribution to help with financing of the project.