Arctic snowy owl spotted near Southern California

Birdwatchers from across the state drove for hours to catch a glimpse of the owl, which is just one of about 30,000 left in the world.

The bird was seen multiple times during the week in Cypress jumping from rooftop to rooftop, CNBC reports.

How the owl traveled more than 3,200 km to the south remains a mystery, but some speculate that it arrived by ship or possibly escaped captivity.

Snowy owls inhabit the arctic tundra, their black and white speckled feathers allow them to easily blend into their winter habitat. These birds sometimes fly to southern Canada, they usually land along sandy beaches but rarely reach Southern California.

Snowy owls are the largest North American owl and spend most of their time in the Arctic, wintering in Canada and Alaska. Sometimes some of them stay in one place all year round, while others migrate in winter.

Some local bird watchers speculate that this is the same owl that was seen a few weeks ago near the Port of Los Angeles.

Since the snowy owl lives in cold conditions, scientists are looking for answers to the question of how it ended up in sunny California. The owl may have arrived by ship.

Strange as it may sound, what ornithologists call pelagic birds or seabirds board ships and simply stay on them for hundreds of kilometers, and sometimes until the ship arrives in port.

Another snowy owl ventured into Washington D.C. in January, surveying the iconic buildings of the nation’s capital.

“Snowy owls come from a part of the world where they hardly see people, from the completely treeless open arctic tundra. Many of the snowy owls we have now seen in the East and Upper Midwest are juveniles making their first migration,” said Scott Widensohl, researcher at the nonprofit SNOWStorm Project, which tracks snowy owl movements.

Christina DENISYUK.

Photo: Twitter