AI-Summary – News For Tomorrow
Norman Smith, the “Owl Man of Logan Airport,” has dedicated over four decades to rescuing snowy owls that migrate to Boston’s Logan International Airport each winter. Drawn by familiar Arctic-like conditions, these owls pose a danger to airplanes, leading to potentially catastrophic engine damage. Smith developed a unique trapping protocol, saving both owls and human lives, after learning 50 of the owls were shot in various airports. Wildlife filmmaker Anna Miller hopes to raise awareness of Smith’s work through her documentary, “The Snowy Owls of Logan Airport” and showcase the important role Smith and his family play in protecting these arctic creatures.
News summary provided by Gemini AI.
Norman Smith’s snowy owls wander the airfield of Boston’s Logan International Airport like it’s their own tundra in the Arctic. Their white feathers fading against the snow, unfazed by the chaos of take-offs and landings, at least 15 snowy owls travel 3,000 miles to the airport every winter, forming the largest concentration of their species in America.
“People didn’t care that much about it because they didn’t know that much about it,” Smith said of the years it took to get his protocol adopted.
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In four decades Smith has rescued 900 snowy owls, earning the name the “Owl Man of Logan airport”. He sets up a device of his creation, places a mouse as bait and traps the bird in a cage, saving the owls and countless human lives — all the while the mice remain unharmed.
“If they get sucked into an engine it can cause catastrophic damage,” Smith says, recalling a 1960 avian tragedy at Logan that killed 62 people. “If a larger bird like a snowy owl gets sucked into an engine, that would actually destroy the engine.”
Smith’s son and daughter — and now grandchildren — have helped with rescues over the years
NORMAN SMITH
Enticed by the familiar weather conditions of their habitat, some snowy owls choose to travel to southern Canada and the northern US every winter.
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With his grandson Jack and granddaughter Gabby
KAREN WALKER
Anna Miller, the Boston-based wildlife filmmaker behind The Snowy Owls of Logan Airport, says she wanted to create awareness about Smith’s story and work.
“I didn’t know about them growing up. I just didn’t know when to look, didn’t kind of slow down and look in the dunes in the winter,” Miller says. “So I thought of getting the story out there to people that aren’t necessarily birders or haven’t seen a snowy owl. They’re super cute and fluffy and look like little puffballs, but at night they’re also just really incredible predators. They’re very cool.”
Smith did not find his line of work by chance. He rescued his first snowy owl after sending a letter to Logan airport asking if he could go there and capture them.
“They said ‘OK’ and that’s how it all began,” Smith says.
At least 50 snowy owls were shot at airports across the country, including New York City’s John F Kennedy International Airport, before Smith created the protocol in 2013.
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“After the big media blitz of the birds that were being shot in New York, we pressed the issue with the United States Department of Agriculture to get a protocol in place,” he says. “Logan was the first airport that was catching birds and releasing them, rather than shooting them. And I’ve been doing that now for 43 years at Logan.”
“I’ve had the opportunity to have a third generation of owl researchers involved in this project,” he says. “It’s amazing for them to see these creatures that come down here in the wintertime, all the way from up in the Arctic, and then travel that distance to get back again. They’re special.”
