Snowy Owl Invasion Puzzles Scientists, Dazzles EnthusiastsBy Mark Leberfinger, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer
January 08, 2014; 5:16 AMSnowy owls have been spotted in the Northeast U.S., all the way down to South Carolina since early December.
Scientists aren't sure why the owls, who spent much of their lives around the Arctic Circle, have arrived in such large numbers.
"It's a great opportunity to see a magnificent animal," Kevin McGowan of Cornell University's Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, N.Y., said.
The owls, the largest in North America, do make forays into the Northeast but this year is different, McGowan said.
"Here in central New York, there were 10 sightings in 10 days," he said. "This is just not the normal way of things."
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