An Alma-area woman who travels across Michigan and other states to photograph wildlife was surprised recently to see an unusually-colored snowy owl.
While photographing wildlife in eastern Michigan, Julie Maggert spotted a snowy owl with orange coloring on some of its feathers, leaving her to wonder whether it was a rare pigmentation or something else.
Maggert, who also travels to other countries to photograph wildlife, enjoys finding snowy owls during the winter as the birds migrate south from the Arctic regions of North America and Eurasia if food is scarce.
Having focused on photographing migrating birds, deer, elk, other wildlife, flowers and the Aurora Borealis, Maggert had never seen an orange snowy owl before, and took several photos of the bird perched and in flight.
Naming the bird “Creamsicle,” Maggert became obsessed, digging up information and researching, and started her journey with a two-hour drive the eastern part of Michigan, hoping just to see the unusual owl.
After six hours of waiting, she was only able to get photos of the bird from hundreds of yards away.
Nine hours into the wait, the owl flew to what Maggert later learned was one of her favorite spots – a tree on a ditch line that was still too far away to capture a good image.
“At very last light, she went hunting and flew out of sight back into the field,” Maggert said. “On the way home, I was quiet and felt gutted.”
Determination won out, and Maggert went back for what she thought would be the final trip to the owl’s location in eastern Michigan.
After searching for Creamsicle where she was previously, the bird was gone so Maggert continued looking and something caught her eye that looked like a child’s bouncy ball.
Looking through binoculars, she discovered it was Creamsicle, much closer to the road behind a clump of dirt.
“Now my adrenaline is pumping, and it’s game time,” Maggert wrote in an email to the Morning Sun. “I parked the truck and waited some more.
“Patience is the key to this game. Once I was parked, other people started to realize what I was doing and parked along the road as well.
Worrying that the bird would get spooked, Maggert was relieved when the other motorists lost interest and drove off.
Creamsicle flew back to her perch, giving Maggert a chance to take some photos.
A few days later, still thinking about the strangely colored owl, Maggert debated the pros and cons before going back to the location – making the total time working on photographing the bird 900 miles of driving, 28.5 hours of sitting in her truck waiting and looking with binoculars, and 16 hours of driving back and forth to the location.
“This would be my very last chance for a few weeks as I have other obligations,” Maggert wrote. “In a few weeks, who knows what could happen to her?
“She could head back north, get spooked far away or worse, get hit by a vehicle. I didn’t want to chance any of that. So I decided to head back over to the location. I felt that this would be a total Hail Mary.”
Maggert returned, driving around looking for the bird and came up empty-handed after a few hours.
Because she was so far from home and didn’t want to leave without seeing the owl, Maggert parked and waited.
“Once I’m there, I make it a day trip,” she wrote. “I ventured out to look around one more time, and there she was, on top of a pole.”
Maggert’s dream of photographing the owl was dashed momentarily because the bird was on a “less than attractive” utility pole but she eventually flew off to a “cleaner” pole and Maggert got her shots.
Two mid-Michigan area wildlife experts had ideas about why the owl has orange coloration.
Michigan Department of Natural Resources Lt. Jeremy Payne consulted with DNR Wildlife Biologist Bruce Barlow, who said some Canadian wildlife agencies spray paint snowy owls in Canada to mark them on airport runways as part of “Project SNOWStorm.”
Barb and Joe Rogers, who own the Wildlife Recovery Association in Midland County, believe the owl was marked with paint.
Many owls are desperate for food this time of year, and will seek out mice in barns, Barb said.
“The owl may be marked to see if it continually enters the same barn, or is traveling to other barns,” Barb said. “There may be a concern about the owls spreading avian flu.”
While Maggert said there has been speculation that the orange in the bird’s feathers might be a color mutation or came from runway de-icing spray at an airport, “she is a once in a lifetime beauty and seemingly healthy.”
