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Snowy Owl Watch

Snowy owls come south from the Arctic in numbers that swing hard from winter to winter. Twelve winters of reports by state, adjusted for the growth of iNaturalist, show whether this one is an irruption.

Index, winter 2025-26
0.6x
US reports, winter 2025-26
476
States with a page
27
Start here

Is this an irruption winter?

The irruption index compares a winter’s share of snowy owls among all bird reports with the median of the other winters: 1.0x is ordinary, 1.3x or more is above normal, 2x or more is a big irruption, and 0.6x or less is a quiet winter. Winter 2025-26 closed at 0.6x, quiet, on 476 research grade reports across the United States.

Winter 2026-27 so far

Reading this winter’s reports for the United States from iNaturalist.

Looking up the latest research grade snowy owl report for the United States.

Snowy owl reports per 10,000 research grade bird reports on iNaturalist, United States, November 1 to March 31, winters 2014-15 to 2025-26, newest first. Each bar is the irruption index, the thin line marks 1.0x, an ordinary winter, and the number in brackets is the count of reports.

Irruptions follow the lemmings. In Project SNOWstorm’s reading, a summer with abundant prey on the tundra fledges large broods, and it is mostly young owls that push far south the following winter, which is why a big winter is often followed by a quiet one.

By state

Snowy owl reports by state, winter 2025-26

A state has its own page once the twelve winters hold at least 25 research grade snowy owl reports. Each index compares the state’s own winters, so a northern state with owls every year needs a bigger flight to read as an irruption than a state where owls are rare.

Research grade snowy owl reports, winter 2025-26, most first.
StateReportsIndexStanding12 winters
Illinois1042.7xbig irruption267
Massachusetts850.6xquiet461
Wisconsin620.9xtypical244
Michigan460.4xquiet489
Minnesota420.8xtypical322
Oregon34raremost winters have none48
Virginia1915.8xbig irruption51
Indiana18raremost winters have none54
Maine140.6xquiet110
New York140.1xquiet387
New Jersey70.6xquiet111
Ohio70.2xquiet280
New Hampshire50.5xquiet60
Washington30.1xquiet126
North Dakota20.4xquiet43
South Dakota20.4xquiet39
Connecticut10.6xquiet45
Iowa10.5xquiet25
Rhode Island10.2xquiet48
Vermont10.1xquiet151
California0raremost winters have none175
Colorado0raremost winters have none31
Maryland00.0xquiet125
Missouri0raremost winters have none26
Montana00.0xquiet56
Pennsylvania00.0xquiet81
Texas0raremost winters have none48

The rest of the country

Winter records on file, each short of the 25 that open a state page: Delaware 21, Kansas 19, West Virginia 14, Alaska 13, North Carolina 10, Tennessee 7, Kentucky 6, Nebraska 6, Oklahoma 4, Arkansas 2, Idaho 2, Wyoming 1. A snowy owl in any of these states is a genuine event, and the national reading above covers them.

Outside the regular winter range, with 0 research grade winter records in the twelve baked winters: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, South Carolina, Utah. For these states the northern finches, pine siskins above all, are the likelier irruption to watch for at feeders.

When

When snowy owls arrive and leave

Snowy owl

4,406 research grade snowy owl observations uploaded to iNaturalist for the United States since July 2014, by calendar month, with November to March shaded. Reports usually begin in November and peak in January; December to February holds 74 percent of them. Counts of what people reported, so they follow observers as well as owls.

A barred snowy owl flying low and fast over a stubble field striped with old snow, wings bent down on the downstroke
A heavily barred snowy owl, the pattern of a young bird or a female, flying low over a winter stubble field. Young owls make up most of an irruption, and open fields like this one are where they hunt voles. “Snowy owl in flight (54236396094)”, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region, Public domain
The winter cast

Winter finches and the other northern birds

The same boom and bust in the north moves a cast of finches and raptors south: evening grosbeaks and redpolls when the seed crop fails, bohemian waxwings and pine grosbeaks when the fruit runs out, rough-legged hawks and northern shrikes with the rodent cycle. The Finch Research Network’s Winter Finch Forecast reads the crops each autumn; the table shows how each species came in last winter against its own eleven other winters.

Winter birds from the north in the United States: research grade reports in winter 2025-26 and the index against the other eleven winters.
SpeciesReportsIndexStanding
Evening grosbeak7782.2xbig irruption
Redpoll3230.5xquiet
Pine siskin7980.3xquiet
Red crossbill2990.6xquiet
White-winged crossbill200.1xquiet
Pine grosbeak6411.3xabove normal
Bohemian waxwing3141.0xtypical
Rough-legged hawk9110.7xtypical
Snow bunting6280.8xtypical
Northern shrike4110.6xquiet

  • Evening grosbeak

    Large tree seeds, especially box elder and maple, and sunflower at feeders.

    Flights south follow poor seed crops in the boreal forest, and spruce budworm outbreaks in the north have fed a recovery in numbers.

  • Redpoll

    Birch and alder catkins, and nyjer at feeders.

    When the northern birch seed crop fails, flocks come south, and big flights have tended to come every other winter.

  • Pine siskin

    Small conifer seeds, alder and birch, and nyjer at feeders.

    A nomad on conifer seed that settles wherever the cones are good, so it can be abundant one winter and scarce the next.

  • Red crossbill

    Seeds prised from closed conifer cones with a crossed bill.

    Several call types each specialise on different conifers and wander to wherever their cone crop is heavy.

  • White-winged crossbill

    Spruce and tamarack seed.

    Moves south only when the boreal spruce crop fails, so years pass between good winters for it.

  • Pine grosbeak

    Mountain ash berries, crabapples and conifer buds.

    Comes south when the northern fruit crop is poor, often tame and slow moving in ornamental fruit trees.

  • Bohemian waxwing

    Fruit: mountain ash, crabapple, juniper and buckthorn.

    Flocks roam in search of fruit and arrive wherever a heavy crop hangs on into winter.

  • Rough-legged hawk

    Voles and other small rodents, hunted by hovering over open fields.

    A regular winter visitor from the Arctic whose numbers rise and fall with the rodent cycles in its breeding range.

  • Snow bunting

    Weed and grass seed on bare ground.

    Flocks settle on windswept fields and shorelines where snow blows thin, and move on with each storm.

  • Northern shrike

    Voles and small birds, sometimes cached on thorns.

    A songbird that hunts like a small hawk, coming south in larger numbers when prey in the north is scarce.

A male evening grosbeak on short grass, mustard yellow body, dark head with a bright yellow brow, pale conical bill and a big white wing patch
A male evening grosbeak, the finch most often at the centre of a winter finch forecast. Flocks arrive at feeders with sunflower seed in the winters the boreal seed crop fails. “Evening Grosbeak 2899m” by Vickie J Anderson, CC BY-SA 4.0
Watching

How to watch a snowy owl well

  • Keep about 100 yards away. A snowy owl in winter is resting between hunts and every flush costs it energy it may not have. If it turns to stare, stands up or flies, back off. Binoculars, a scope or a long lens close the distance instead.
  • Stay in the car. On farm roads and at airport edges the car works as a blind; an owl that ignores a parked vehicle will leave when a person steps out. Pull fully off the road and keep to public roads outside fences.
  • Let the owl hunt its own food. Baited owls learn to fly low toward people and cars, which draws them onto roads and runways where collisions kill them.
  • Leave the calls at home. Recorded calls and imitations pull owls off their hunting perches and add stress in the hardest season of the year.
  • Share sightings at the state level. An owl that holds one field for weeks draws crowds once its spot is posted; the state and the date are plenty for the record.

“Fortunately, a vehicle makes a terrific blind, so stay in your car whenever possible.”

Project SNOWstorm, snowy owl etiquette

Guidance from Project SNOWstorm and Audubon Great Lakes.

A heavily barred snowy owl sitting low among wind carved snow drifts on a wide open field, eyes half closed against the glare
A snowy owl resting low among drifts, eyes half closed. This is what an owl at ease looks like; one that turns to stare or stands up tall is telling the watcher to give it room. “Snowy owl (53625561759)”, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region, Public domain
State pages

Snowy owl reports in your state

Questions people ask about snowy owls

Compiled 2026-09-22 from research grade observation counts on iNaturalist, summed by state and winter, with the live winter read from the same source. Counts are uploads by the public, adjusted by all bird uploads for the same place and window. Viewing guidance from Project SNOWstorm and Audubon Great Lakes.

Winter eagle watchingThe other great winter bird spectacle, on the rivers and reservoirs where ice concentrates bald eagles.Fall migration watchCranes, geese and hawks on the way south, the season before the owls arrive.Daylight hoursShort winter days put owls on the hunt at dawn and dusk, when the light is lowest.