First reported on December 10, 2004, at a truck stop near Shippensburg, PA. On the 15th of December I went to Caledonia SP to try to photograph the Varied Thrush. Not having any luck there in the morning I continued on to Shippensburg in hopes of getting the Snowy Owl. Luck would have it, it was still there and I was able to get these photos. The Snowy was very content sitting on the roof of one of the buildings so it did not offer any photo-ops with a more natural background. The Owl was last seen at the truck stop on December 15th, 2004.
Snowy Owls breed across the Canadian Arctic and are irregular to casual visitors to Pennsylvania. Females lay 4 to 12 white elongated eggs depending on food supply. Incubation is 32-34 days by the female and is asynchronous, typically 1 every 2 days. The male is the primary feeder of chicks providing mainly lemmings. Owlets leave the nest in about 2 weeks and fledge in 7 or 8 weeks.