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The number of snowy owls that glide above the Arctic tundra is in alarming decline as the birds face a gauntlet of threats. Yet the raptor’s path to legal protection moves at a sluggish pace.
The iconic birds of the North are threatened by habitat loss as ground cover becomes thicker and prey becomes more difficult to find. Collisions with vehicles, buildings and power poles during migration are also causing numbers to dwindle.
The bird’s population is around 14,000 and dropping at more than 30 per cent per decade.
It was assessed as threatened because of the “steepness of the decline in its numbers,” said Syd Cannings, a retired biologist who served on the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.
A scientific assessment of declining population does not automatically trigger legal protection. Researchers, federal, Indigenous and local governments carry out extensive consultations on conservation efforts after a species is deemed threatened – a process that can stretch on for two years or more.
But the clock starts even earlier where the committee’s scientists spend at least two years studying data to determine a species’ status, leaving the animals – in this case the snowy owl – vulnerable for years before conservation actions can take effect.
It can take two years or more in the North from the time an animal or bird is assessed as being threatened to being formally listed under federal law, Cannings said.
“It takes so long because the government is being, I guess, very careful,” he said. “They don’t want to just say, ‘OK, boom. It’s threatened,’ because that has an effect on people.”
(Submitted by Stu White)
Consultation is underway, says federal government
The committee meets twice a year – in the spring and late fall – but the federal environment minister is given a copy of the report just once a year, Cannings said. Then the minister then takes it to cabinet, which makes the final decision.
“It takes a lot longer than a lot of us would like.”
The committee’s assessment is the first step in a multi-step process under the Species at Risk Act, said Eleni Armenakis, spokesperson for Environment and Climate Change Canada, in an email.
The committee gave the environment minister its assessment of the snowy owl on Oct. 16, she added.
The minister responded on Jan. 16 by extending consultation timelines to meet land claims obligations, Armenakis said. “This consultation is underway.”
Global threat causing decline in Arctic birds
The snowy owl, Cannings said, is an umbrella species and an indicator of environmental health, so if the bird is in trouble, then other flora and fauna are not doing well either.
Snowy owls are found across the treeless Arctic tundra where they mostly feed on lemmings and ducks. But they are also known for travelling great distances and are among the most nomadic of birds, moving around widely in search of food.
The main threat faced by the bird is a gradual change in its habitat brought on by a warming world, Cannings said.
“So many places it used to nest are now covered in shrubs,” he said. “It’s losing all its productive lemming hunting grounds at the southern edge of the Arctic tundra. And the owls are having fewer and fewer places to nest.”
Other threats facing the snowy owl include avian flu, with data compiled by Canadian Food Inspection Agency showing at least 15 cases since 2021.
They are also hit by vehicles as they go down south from their homes, collide with buildings, get electrocuted by power lines or are poisoned from eating prey exposed to rodent poison.
“There is no single smoking gun to say what is actually causing the decline in these bird numbers,” Cannings said.
“Unfortunately, in this case, it isn’t something like stopping hunting or, or something simple … that people can decide either on their own or the government can decide to do something to help. This is a more complicated thing. It’s a global threat.”
‘This link to the far North is part of our culture’
Cameron Eckert, director of the Yukon Bird Club, said the “perplexing question” surrounding a species like the snowy owl is what steps should be taken for its conservation.
Sea ice is changing rapidly and unpredictably and lemming populations naturally rise and fall in dramatic cycles — both of which influence snowy owl populations in ways that are well beyond human control, he said.
Even as the government works to cut greenhouse gas emissions, climate change is already having more pronounced impacts on biodiversity, he added.
He said the snowy owl has a charisma that resonates with people in a way many other species don’t.
“It carries this idea of a bird traveling all the way from the High Arctic to southern Canada for the winter,” he said. “This link to the far North is part of our culture.”
