Audio The owls arrive (story audio) Photos Dave and Jonas Benson Northern Hawk Owl Birders View full slideshow (6 images) Respond to this story Talk about this story in the MPR News Forum Submit a commentary Help us cover this story

	E-mail this page			Print this page

The owls arrive
by Chris Julin, Minnesota Public Radio
December 13, 2004

A Northern Hawk Owl just outside Duluth. It's one of the huge number of owls now wintering in Minnesota. It's not unusual for owls to migrate to Minnesota from Canada, but the large numbers this year have birders excited. (MPR photo/Chris Julin)

The owls are here. Every few years, owls that usually live in the far north pour into Minnesota during the wintertime. But this year's a record-breaker for the number of owls.

	Dave and Jonas Benson

Duluth, Minn. — Boreal owls, northern hawk owls, and great gray owls have arrived in the hundreds.

People call the great grays ghosts of the forest. They're charcoal gray, and they stand two-and-a-half feet tall. Their wingspan can be five feet. We went on an owl-watching trip with Dave Benson. He's a naturalist in Duluth.

(Click on the link in the upper right corner of this page to hear the story.)

News Headlines

Related Subjects