If snowy owls are known for one thing, it's their white plumage. Their coloring helps them blend in with the frost-covered environments they call home. Wildlife photographer Julie Maggert has been taking pictures of snowy owls for years.
So when she heard that a strange, orange. Professional photographer Bill Diller captured images of a snowy owl in Huron County, Mich. The reddish-orange coloration in the snowy owl are thought to be the result of an encounter with de-icing fluid used at airports, according to Scott Weidensaul, co-founder of Project SNOWstorm, one of the world's largest collaborative research projects focused exclusively on snowy owls.
(Photos by. "The most likely explanation is that it was de-icing fluid at an airport, since some formulations are that red-orange color," said Dr Scott Weidensaul, a co. Seeing a snowy owl is a magnificent experience - but one Michigan snowy owl is truly unique.
What caused the owl to have red-orange feathers? A researcher at Michigan State University who has long studied bird colorations said the orange patterns on this snowy owl were likely caused by some type of genetic mutation prompted by an. Nobody knows why this snowy owl is orange Bird experts agree Creamsicle is rare - and potentially even unique - in its colouring.
But they disagree about what's behind the orange feathers. The snowy owl tinged with orange plumage in Michigan. Photo by Julie Maggert A wildlife photographer spent days attempting to capture a picture of a one.
While snowy owls are typically known for their white plumage, the presence of orange coloring on this particular owl makes it exceptionally rare. A researcher at Michigan State University who has studied bird colorations believes the owl's unusual coloring was likely triggered by environmental factors. "It may be a genetic thing," McWhirter.
Birders have documented a Snowy Owl with unusual orange-red coloring, complete with photographs, but there is no consensus about how the abnormal color was created. Bill Diller, a birder and photographer living in southeast Michigan, was surprised to hear from a neighbor that a "red-spotted Snowy Owl" was reported in the area of Michigan known as "the Thumb," where several Snowy Owls. Trilobites Orange Alert: What Caused the Colors on This Snowy Owl? Bird watchers along Lake Huron photographed the bird, which has been nicknamed Rusty and Creamsicle.