Snowy Owl update (the last?)

After a few week dry spell of no new Snowy Owl reports, I've just received four new ones in the last two days. Some are old records being reported long after the fact; others are quite fresh. Two of these records are of owls seen as recently as today. Following is their info, should you be inclined to look:

HENRY COUNTY: Extreme eastern part of the county, being seen along County Rd. M between the county line (Wood County) east to County Rd. 7. Thanks to Todd Heilman for the report.

WOOD COUNTY: Near the intersection of Portage Road and State Rte. 235. This is about one mile SSE of the village of Weston. Thanks to Tammy Phares for this report.


As of now, we stand at 177 owls reported, from 60 counties. If you don't hail from Ohio, we've got 88 counties, so that's a big chunk of them. And I wonder how many other owls were out there that never got reported. Probably lots. Anyway you shake it, the winter of 2013/14 will probably go down as the largest documented irruption of Snowy Owls in Ohio's history. Some of the invasions of nearly a century ago might have rivaled or exceeded this one, but the numbers were not well documented. And although we've seen our way through the brunt of the invasion, I'd be surprised if a few more reports don't trickle in before all is said and done.

The map is below, and as always, I appreciate any and all reports and welcome new ones. Thanks to the myriad observers who found and reported owls.