Are the snowy owls in trouble? Venture into the Alaskan arctic and the
summer realm of these predator birds to find out. Discover the diverse
species necessary to owl survival, how climate change is affecting the
landscape of their nesting site of past millennia, and what it takes to
do field research in this action-packed addition to the award-winning
Scientists in the Field series.
It's July on Alaska's North Slope, and scientist Denver Holt is in
Utqiagvik surveying nests. Denver has been coming here since 1992, and
the snowy owls he studies have been coming here much longer: thousands
of years.
With its mix of coastal, low-elevation tundra and a rich presence of
lemmings, the North Slope is the only area in Alaska where snowy owls
regularly nest. How do snowy owls decide where they will nest? How do
they manage to arrive at locations where food will be abundant? What
drives the success of these delicate tundra ecosystems? These are the
mysteries Denver is trying to solve to help ensure a bright future for
these elegant hunters.