{"id":126,"date":"2025-05-02T12:53:32","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T19:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=126"},"modified":"2025-05-02T12:53:32","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T19:53:32","slug":"since-1981-one-man-has-relocated-nearly-1000-snowy-owls-from-logan-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=126","title":{"rendered":"Since 1981, One Man Has Relocated Nearly 1,000 Snowy Owls from Logan Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Since<\/p>\n

Upwards of 17 million commercial flights<\/a> ferry passengers across U.S. airspace each year. (It\u2019s more than twice that, in total, worldwide.) Those hundreds of thousands of vessels share the sky with winged things that have been around way, way<\/em> longer than airliners, but it\u2019s not always an easy relationship. Through the work of people like Norman Smith at Boston\u2019s primary international terminal, we\u2019re learning more every day about a remarkable species and their evolving ways of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Snowy Owls of Logan Airport<\/a>\u201d is a short documentary about Smith\u2019s extraordinary work managing unexpected avian residents. Created by Anna Miller<\/a>, who also runs The Animalia Podcast<\/a><\/em>, the film highlights the unique migration patterns of the largest owls in North America and why they flock from the Arctic to such an unlikely destination every winter.<\/p>\n

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Smith has been working with snowy owls at Logan Airport since 1981. \u201cThey fly 3,000 miles just to get here,\u201d he says. \u201cWe don\u2019t know why they come down to the Boston area. Logan Airport has the highest concentration of snowy owls in the Northeast that we know of.\u201d<\/p>\n

The birds\u2019 choice to land at a busy transportation hub might not be as surprising as you\u2019d think at first. It comprises 1,800 acres of open fields, which resemble something like the tundra they call home farther north, full of rats and mice to eat. And on three sides, water provides another ample source of food. It might be loud, but they don\u2019t seem to lose a wink.<\/p>\n

Programs like the one at Logan Airport have been in place for decades following tragic incidents in which jet engines ingested birds, causing the planes to crash. One particular event in 1960 in Boston prompted airports around the nation to implement programs that managed bird populations, especially roosting areas, around active airfields. And while shooting avian species has historically been one method of removal, Smith is committed to a much more humane solution: moving them to safety elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Snowy owls are considered \u201cvulnerable\u201d to extinction, and their populations are dwindling as the effects of the climate crisis continue to impact habitats in the Arctic. While it\u2019s harder to predict what will happen in the coming years, Smith is dedicated to giving the birds he encounters the best chance of survival. <\/p>\n

So far, he has single-handedly relocated more than 900 animals, been instrumental in implementing similar programs across the U.S., and hopes his passion for conservation and the urgent need to save these incredible creatures will influence future generations to do the same. (via Kottke<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member<\/a> today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Since 1981, One Man Has Relocated Nearly 1,000 Snowy Owls from Logan Airport<\/a> appeared first on Colossal<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Upwards of 17 million commercial flights ferry passengers across U.S. airspace each year. (It\u2019s more than twice that, in total, worldwide.) Those hundreds of thousands of vessels share the sky…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}