Snowy owls delight birdwatchers, keep crews on their toes at MSP Airport
MINNEAPOLIS — Nature lovers are capturing beautiful shots this winter of an intriguing sight at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
This time of year, it's the snowy owl that lands at the airport, a place that mimics their home in the Arctic tundra.
"Thirty-four-hundred acres we have, it's tree-free," said Jeff Matson, Metropolitan Airport Commission's duty manager for airside operations. "There are viable hunting options, plenty of loafing options and also no predators."
But they're also catching the eye of those tasked with keeping the airport safe.
"Right now, our focus is on snowy owls," Matson said. "We inspect the runways twice a day, if not more than that. We're out there all the time, but it is something that falls in our wheelhouse."
Matson's team keeps things inside the fence running smoothly.
"I've been doing this for more than 31 years so I've seen a few things. We do get a coyote on the field occasionally. We did get a snake about a year ago," Matson said. "There's red tail hawks, there's bald eagles."
A successful day for him is one where his work goes unnoticed. Matson says it's a typical year for the owls that show up in November, though Andy Forbes, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, says spotters say otherwise.
"If we look at those online sightings and stuff, there's probably a little bit more than normal," Forbes said. "People have been really enjoying it this year. The birds are quite visible and cooperative, some years they're not."
As beautiful as they can be, sometimes taking flight alongside these birds is a recipe for trouble.
"We normally get between 120 to 140 strikes per year," Matson said. "Could be anything we could find during inspection that the pilot didn't report or that the flight crew didn't even know that they hit."
But snowy owls are a formidable size, and Forbes says they like to fly low.
"They're our biggest owl in North America," Forbes said. "They average around 4 pounds so they're just big and showy."
Matson said one did die this year in a strike. Crews trap and relocate birds for their protection if they don't respond to management efforts to keep them away from planes.
"Their mass is similar to a goose, so they could easily take down [an airplane]. It could be a catastrophic situation if that happened," Matson said. "This is a small part of our job, but a huge part of it."
So while some work to keep them safe, others simply admire these intriguing visitors, keeping an eye as we join them in the sky.
The owls will be around until the spring, as they typically leave when the snow does.