A Rare Snowy Owl Is Captivating Southern California

[Still Waters]

Last week, a snowy owl made a surprise visit to the Southern California city of Cypress, located southeast of Los Angeles in Orange County.

Excited neighbors and birders gathered to observe the raptor, which found accommodations on rooftops in a residential area. On December 27, the owl’s crowd of admirers surpassed 30 people at times. Some were locals, and others had traveled some 100 miles to catch a glimpse of the rarity.

A snowy owl in Southern California is very out of place—the approximately two-foot-tall birds spend summers in the Arctic tundra, where their white feathers help conceal them among the snow. Some might migrate just south of the Canadian border during winters. In unusual cases, snowy owls have been seen in Texas, but spotting one as far south and west as Orange County is “extremely rare,”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-rare-snowy-owl-is-captivating-southern-california-180981382/