Owl ‘irruption’ brings joy for birders, concerns for owls in northeast Minnesota

Owl ‘irruption’ brings joy for birders, concerns for owls in northeast Minnesota

Irruptions occur after large numbers of baby owls are hatched the year before, and then the following year, there’s not enough food for all of them

Snowy owls are becoming more frequent visitors here

DOUGLAS COUNTY — If you’ve been hearing about irruption years when it comes to owls in Minnesota, there’s a reason for that. Irruption years, or years with a sudden increase in an animal or bird population, have become so frequent that they’re almost the new normal. Here in west central Minnesota, Lake Carlos State Park naturalist Ben Eckhoff says seeing snowy owls, for example, used to be more cyclical. “As the prey populations are on their dow…