Michigan Snowy Owl with a Rusty-Colored Head: Is It a Mutant?

The above photo is not of rusty-colored Michigan snowy owls...keep reading to find a link to where you can see one. But is it just one or are there others?

A snowy owl with a rust-colored pattern on its head was seen in Huron County and is a rare sight indeed. Male snowies are usually white-feathered and females have dark bars across their feathers.....but snowy owls with a dark orangey dome are not the norm. In fact, this may be the only known one.

Professor Kevin McGraw, chairman of MSU’s Integrative Biology Department and a researcher at Michigan State University, studies bird colorations and thinks that possibly these particular color patterns on this owl were caused by genetic mutation - likely genes that were environmentally triggered.

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Quoted in an Mlive article, McGraw says the color could have been caused “through toxins, pollutants, other types of environmental stressors, including pesticides, heavy metal contaminants, or oxidative damage. This animal got exposed probably to something unique”.

Even though the pattern is pretty, the professor says it's also dangerous for the owl, since it makes it an easier target for predators during winter and “It may be more challenging for the owl to forage or hunt for itself because it’s not just winter-white camouflaged.”

To get a good look at this rusty-colored Michigan snowy owl, check out this Mlive article.