After being in a cell tower "dead zone" for a few days (we've all been there), Alma, the Snowy Owl whose transmitter was funded by Alma College, has reconnected and the data has been downloaded to an updated map on the Project SNOWstorm website. He is still in the Chelsea area. Since my last update to this list, two more Snowy Owls have been tagged in Michigan. Chippewa was trapped, tagged, and released on February 8 in the Pickford area of the Upper Peninsula. She seems to be staying in the same general area and she can now be tracked on the Project SNOWstorm website. Her transmitter was funded by the Michigan Bird Conservation Initiative, a collaboration between the Audubon Society of Kalamazoo, the Kalamazoo Valley Bird Observatory/Kalamazoo Nature Center, Laughing Whitefish Audubon Society, and Michigan Audubon Society. Prairie Ronde was trapped at the MBS airport near Saginaw and released near Schoolcraft in SW Michigan on February 11. Her transmitter was funded by donations to the general fund of Project SNOWstorm. Release of data is withheld for a few days after release, so she will be trackable on the website sometime later this week. And thanks to an anonymous individual donor, another transmitter has been fully funded and plans are in the works to place it on a fourth Snowy Owl in the state. I'll update again once that happens (they aren't that easy to catch so plans may change!). A good place to check all this out is on the 2014/2015 maps page of Project SNOWstorm, here: http://www.projectsnowstorm.org/maps-2014-15/ And check the updated blog here: http://www.projectsnowstorm.org/posts/dam-bursts/ Donations are still being accepted as the owls remain in the state. Hopefully we can fund one more transmitter, at least, this winter. I've been informed that Jackson Audubon Society is interested in contributing. How about some others? Use this link for making online donations via the Michigan Audubon website: https://michiganaudubonorg.presencehost.net/support/donate.html There is a form field that reads "If you would like to make a gift to a specific sanctuary or program, please indicate in the field below." Please enter "Project SNOWstorm Michigan" in this line, so they can track those gifts. Otherwise, checks can be made out to Michigan Audubon with "Project SNOWstorm Michigan" in the memo line and mailed to: Michigan Audubon PO Box 15249 Lansing, MI 48901
Prairie Ronde with Transmitter. Photo by Chris McNeri.