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Who? Who? Hoo!

Every once in a while these parts are visited by a rarely seen bird—the white Arctic owl. His coming is regarded, by those who know the signs, as a sure token of a hard, cold winter.

The white arctic owl (or snowy owl) is quite a sight, as it is neatly pure white, with small spots, and stands between two and one-half and three feet high. It is said to be one of the most handsome birds ever seen hereabouts. It has a wing spread estimated at nearly five feet. Some pretty cold weather, and snow, sometimes comes not long after our visitor from the far North arrives, but as a matter of fact maybe he comes here because it is already so cold where he lives that he has to move south a little.

I am pretty sure I saw one of these “snowy” owls about 25 years ago. I was parked at the Corporation Beach parking lot at Dennis one Fall night with a few friends of mine. When we decided to leave, I backed the car around and the headlights revealed a giant white bird sitting atop one of the old pilings that used to line the parking lot there. We all agreed that it was some sort of owl and having seen Great Horned Owls on numerous occasions I am sure it was not one of those as the great bird we saw was almost pure white.

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