Bubo scandiacus is the Latin name for a snowy owl. The birds are typically found in the subarctic. But one sat placidly on a lawn in the middle of campus until the state Department of Environmental Conservation took the bird to a vet.
Ed Becker, a veterinarian at The Animal Hospital in Guilderland, reported the bird was “very thin — he is basically emaciated and dehydrated,” but otherwise apparently intact. Other tests were ongoing. (Becker wasn't sure whether the owl was male or female. Blood tests are generally the only way to figure that out.) After the owl recuperates, it likely will be released somewhere farther upstate, officials said.
Karl Parker, the DEC wildlife biologist who snared the owl with a net and delivered it to Becker, said the owls will migrate far afield when they are having trouble finding the small animals they usually eat. While it's not unheard of for a snowy owl to appear this far south, it did appear earlier in the season than one usually might.
“I haven't seen one in a number of years, actually,” Parker said.
A Union biologist who came to look at the owl, Carl George, said other birds typically found far to the north have come south sooner than usual. Ward Stone, a DEC wildlife pathologist, had heard that too — and worried that global warming might push more snowy owls out of their habitat as the wide-open spaces they look for are overgrown with bushes and trees.
Several people gathered to look at the owl, a dome of white feathers flecked with dark markings. A maintenance worker on campus first spotted the bird around 6:30 a.m., when it was scurrying across campus. It stopped near a stone wall near the Nott Memorial.
When Parker netted the owl, it put up little resistance, spinning its head around and widening its big, golden eyes. Parker held it aloft, like a trophy.
“Gorgeous bird. Absolutely beautiful,” said Jeremy Dibbell, Union's archives specialist, who was among those giving wide berth to the owl and its talons.
If anybody found it ironic that next week millions of turkeys will quietly go to their deaths while such a fuss was being made over this one bird, nobody said so.
Later, a chef wearing a toque and white coat showed up. People joked that the bird was off limits. He laughed at the commotion he caused. He walked away, saying, “No owl — tortellini for lunch.”