From Huron Daily Tribune - Feb 13, 2025
Snowy owls frequently migrate from their arctic home to this area in search of food. It’s not unusual to see this white ball of feathers soaring through the skies over Huron County’s open fields during the winter months. Frequently they can be spotted along country roads sitting atop utility poles or in trees. They are predators on the lookout for small animals or birds to sustain them through the winter months, before heading north when the weather warms up.
This winter a certain snowy owl has garnered attention because of its unusual coloration. Normally white, this owl is noticeably brighter, sporting a rather jaunty reddish/orange appearance. It has been seen numerous times over the last few weeks, and made a splash on social media, causing photographers from as far away as Detroit, Port Huron, Flint, and Grand Rapids to travel to Huron County in hopes of spotting the snowy owl with the colorful anomaly.
Because of its coloration, the owl’s presence has been reported to wildlife authorities, who seem to be at a loss as to why it sports such brightly colored feathers. Reasonable guesses range from it being a natural mutation to some sort of human contact, whether accidental or intentional.
Among the human contact theories are that it was perched and drenched with fire retardant in proximity to a wildfire in Canada. Another theory is that it was perched and drenched with deicer at an airport runway. Other theories are that it was accidently sprayed with paint while near bridge construction or marked by an unknown but authorized scientific entity in order track it more easily.
No matter what the cause, this brightly colored snowy owl is a beautiful bird. Someday, the cause of its colorful anomaly may be known. In the meantime, people are encouraged to respect it, and let it exist peacefully, as it seems to be healthy and living the life of a ‘normal’ snowy owl.
I was looking at a car this guy was selling , we’re standing there talking about a price and this amazing blue dove lands a few feet away. It’s was fucking saphire blue.
The guy selling the car looks at me and says “wooooah I’ve never seen a blue bird like that before”. He was blown away.
I said “are you sure buddy because there’s a port a John business right around the corner and that bird has been swimming in one of the shit houses”
I did not buy the car
I had a similar experience hiking in Utah. And it’s probably totally pedestrian. Got up to this area and noticed there were little yellow jackets flying around, except they were BLUE and black. I was immediately captivated, because you don’t see blue animals much (I love bluejays).
Maybe it’s a common thing, but I was blown away. Growing up in the southeastern US, we had little bee-like “yellow jackets,” but I’m pretty sure they weren’t the wasps that Google images returns for the term. They’re smaller and more round and fuzzy, like a tiny bee. That’s what this was. Same exact color/black/color/black pattern, but the yellow was blue. I’d never seen a blue and black one before and still haven’t found an exact image match. It felt a little magical, particularly in such a pretty area.
I bet they were Blue Orchard Bees
I think you might be right! That’s by far the closest match I’ve seen.
Just look at this little fella and imagine a group of them flying around and landing nearby. Felt a little fairytale-ish. They’re so beautiful.
That would have been a memorable experience ! Nature kicks ass ! I too am a fan of blue birds of all kinds. Im lucky enough to have dozens of bluebirds, quite a few indigo bunting and a whole mess of Bluejays flying around my home. A few other notable birds I get to see regularly are piliated woodpeckers ( the big woody woodpecker types) , yellow flickers and my personal favorite ( which really arent that special but theyre my #1 for their personality alone) the Carolina wren.
Wish I wouldn’t have seen the blue shitbird though
Nice! Have you ever tried the Merlin app? That got me paying attention to birds more. I don’t know much, but it’s like even-better Pokemon Go. I try to whip out my phone whenever I hear anything new. Best one so far is a few Great Horned Owls (adults and babies!) behind my apartment complex. First captured their calls/ID’d them, then eventually saw the female at night while walking my dog–she swooped overhead maybe 20-30 ft up and landed on the corner of the building to scope us out. I suspect a bird feeder or ten might be in my balcony’s future.
I have not , my sister has an app like that , possibly the same one , I’ll have to ask her about it.
My father is pretty good with bird identification and would always point them out on walks in the woods.
I got hooked on field guides after getting a few as a kid for birthdays etc. I’ve collected several editions of Petersons and National Audubon field guides . I highly recommend both . NA has actual pictures but Peterson’s have rendered images of the birds in flight, their seasonal plumage and are a bit more comprehensive .
I could definitely get into that. I’ll have to keep an eye out at thrift stores–field guides would be a fun little category of books to collect.
Merlin is free and the coolest part is that it has audio ID and it’s impressively good. You can have multiple birds singing and it’ll identify each call individually, which you can then save to a life list along with the recordings. Among other cool features. It’s from Cornell University. I still think it might be the coolest, most-magical app I’ve ever used. I still get excited when it identifies a bird call. “It did it!”
I swear I came across a blue bee once as well! I wish native bees were more common and documented as much as the honey bees. As you said, it was crazy seeing a blue insect!
Check out the other response above. Someone mentioned “blue orchard bees” and I think that might be what I saw. Very similar, at least.
I was looking at that too after we started talking about this. It seems they’re all over the US, as I’m on the east coast, but they look so different in every single picture it makes it really hard to tell. If there were multiple blue bees though, I would think there would be more info out there on them as they are very cool. I’m fine assuming it is an orchard bee though.
Yeah, they naturally range from bright blue to sorta greenish, so it can make ID a little tricky sometimes. I just suggested blue orchard bees, since that’s what first came to mind, but it could be an Augochloropsis bee too!
Oh wow. There are so many neat bees!
I just love bugs, haha
I agree. That’s been the experience I’ve had all along. Some show blue wings, which isn’t quite right. Some are mostly black, nope. Also hard to tell size–some pics look like big honeybees, but these were pretty small. The one I posted is very close, but arguably a little too plump. But way closer than the blue hornets/dirt daubers I mostly saw as results previously.
It has made me feel a little like I really did have a magical experience, because it’s so rare to be unable to just search for something and find a definitive answer.
I just suggested blue orchard bees, since that’s what first came to mind, but it could be an Augochloropsis bee too!
We’ve gotten quite spoiled by all the info at our fingertips that it drives a person crazy when they can’t find something! 😅