Rusty-colored Michigan snowy owl turning heads, likely a genetic mutation- Updated: Feb. 25, 2025, 11:21 a.m.
- |Published: Feb. 25, 2025, 10:45 a.m.
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Rufous snowy owl found in Michigan
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HURON COUNTY, MI – Julie Maggert had never seen anything like it. It was a snowy owl with a bright orange pattern on what should have been white feathers with dark bars.
The amateur wildlife photographer covered hundreds of miles through the rural countryside in Michigan’s Thumb area, trying to catch a glimpse through her binoculars of the snowy owl with the strange melanistic attribute she saw rumors about on social media. And then she found it for herself in Huron County.
Maggert went back again and again, eventually dubbing the wild bird “Creamsicle.” The last time she found the unique raptor it was perched atop a utility pole – perfect for showing off its rusty coloration.
Snowy owls typically have white feathers, with females also having dark bars across their feathers. They are among the heaviest owl species in North America because of their abundant feathers, needed to insulate them from cold Arctic temperatures. Their feet are covered in feathers for the same reason.
During the long hours Maggert and her husband spent in their parked pickup truck watching this orange-tinted snowy owl as it sat in a field or perched in a nearby tree, she wondered what caused it to have such a colorful pattern. When she posted her photos on social media, she didn’t believe much of the online chatter – like the bird was somehow doused in airplane deicer while hanging around an airport.
Related: Don’t scare this rare bird. How to be a ‘stress-free’ snowy owl viewer
“I’ve been chasing snowies for probably six years now, and if it got sprayed like that … why haven’t I ever seen another one like that? You know, I’ve seen hundreds of snowy owls now,” Maggert said.
The hobbyist photographer from the Alma area was right. There is, in fact, a more scientific explanation.
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 environmental stressor.
Professor Kevin McGraw, chairman of MSU’s Integrative Biology Department, said the rusty color on this wild snowy owl is likely an expression of genes that are normally “downregulated” but that were environmentally triggered.
“Through toxins, pollutants, other types of environmental stressors, including pesticides, heavy metal contaminants, or oxidative damage. Those are several things that come to mind with this bird,” he said.
“This animal got exposed probably to something unique. But I would say we can’t be too, too sure. It could have happened to mom, and mom could have passed that on to the young.”
Related: It’s snowy owl season in Michigan: What you should know to help these Arctic beauties
McGraw further explained that whatever the genetic disruption, it’s almost certainly related to the bird’s melanin pathway. “Something environmentally turned on the pheomelanin pigment synthesis pathway to make this bird over express this rufous, chestnutty color,” he said.
Pheomelanin is the pigment that gives red or ginger hair its color in humans. Rufous is an ornithological term for reddish-brown.
The MSU scientist published a book called “Bird Coloration” with fellow ornithologist Geoffrey Hill from Auburn University. Together they previously studied the phenomenon of yellow northern cardinals, like the one recently spotted in Bath Township near Lansing.
McGraw said a downfall of the snowy owl having that rusty coloration is that it may be more easily targeted by larger predators, and it may be more challenging for the owl to forage or hunt for itself because it’s “not just winter-white camouflaged.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommends keeping a safe distance to quietly observe snowy owls in the wild. Bird calls should not be played from a phone or other device, and people should never feed wild owls. |
