MARQUETTE - Along the northern tier of the United States, including the Upper Peninsula, the country is being invaded from across the international border.
Hundreds of snowy owls are winging south from the Arctic looking for food, many of them dying of exhaustion, starvation and dehydration soon after they arrive. 
From New York Harbor to Honolulu International Airport and the lower parking ramp in downtown in Marquette, new sightings are being reported daily.
"It is a fantastic irruption of snowy owls this year, certainly one of the strongest I've ever seen," said Skye Haas, a birdwatcher with the Laughing Whitefish Audubon Society in Marquette who has been mapping the sightings. "I have heard of 34 different birds in the Upper Peninsula over the course of the last month."
Snowy owls - which measure about two feet from head to tail tip - eat rodents, fish and birds and feed primarily on lemmings in the Arctic tundra during the breeding season. When those rodent populations falter - usually about every four years- the owls can be forced to look elsewhere for food.
The birds move south, in some seasons as far as northern Alabama or Oklahoma.
"It's something we see every few years, this influx of owls," said Brian Roell, a wildlife biologist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources in Marquette. "They'll winter here and often feed on seagulls and our city squirrels."
But this fall and winter, Haas said the snowy owl southward migration may actually be the result of an overabundance of lemmings and owls.
"I have heard that Arctic researchers are suggesting that this year, lemming populations were very high, leading to a successful breeding season for snowy owls," Haas said. "With this big population explosion, competition on their typical wintering grounds is pushing birds, primarily inexperienced youngsters, into the lower 48 (states). This seems to be reflected in what birds are being seen in the U.P. this fall with only a few adults observed."
Having flown across Lake Superior, and an unknown distance before that, many of the owls arriving in the area are tired, stressed and potentially starving, Haas said.
The first bird reported in the area was at Sault Ste. Marie on Nov. 11. Since then, owls have been seen across the region from Escanaba and Copper Harbor to Hancock, Grand Marais and Whitefish Point.
As many as six owls have been reported in Marquette. The birds are not used to seeing humans and often perch low to the ground on posts and rocks or tower spires and other promontories. Three owls were reported on the Lower Harbor breakwater. In recent winters, snowy owls have been seen at Picnic Rocks and in trees outside the Berry Events Center.
"They do seem to hang out along the shoreline," Roell said. "They are beautiful."
Beth Olson of Marquette found a snowy owl in a weakened state near the new hotel construction at Founders Landing on Nov. 18, a day after worker excitement over seeing and photographing the bird temporarily shutdown the job site.
"It was outside of the fence of the construction site and it was on the ground," Olson said.
The owl seemed to have an injured leg and was using its wing to support itself. The bird was being mobbed by crows, which Olson feared would kill the owl.
She called Randy Bruntjens, owner of the U.P. Raptor Rehab Center in Gladstone. He told Olson to use a jacket or blanket to capture the bird and put it in a cardboard box.
"I had never done anything like that before," Olson said.
With the help of Olson's brother-in-law Lonnie Copeland of downstate Flushing, who had gone to see the owl with Olson and her sister Chris, the owl was captured and is recovering along with three others at Bruntjens' facility."There's been seven or eight of them here already," Bruntjens said.
Four died before reaching the facility. Those that got there had breastbones protruding because of starvation. Bruntjens tube feeds the owls baby food and he injects fluids. He feeds the stronger birds rats he gets from Central Michigan University.It takes about two weeks for an owl to recover. Their survival during that period is tenuous.
"One day they seem to be doing great and then the next day, they're gone," Bruntjens said. "There's no guarantee on any of these."
A few years ago, the U.S. Coast Guard took Roell onto Lake Superior to rescue a snowy owl that was in the water, unable to fly. Last week he was called by Marquette police to aid a snowy owl that appeared injured at the lower parking ramp.
"I made an attempt to catch it and if flew away," Roell said. "I thought, 'OK, he's doing alright.'"
Roell said he was called out again the next day for the same bird, which was now reported down near Dockside Marine. This time, Roell captured the bird and took it to Julie Robson, director of Superior Rehab Services in Harvey.
"He was just so docile and weak," Robson said.
Like a half dozen snowy owls Robson had successfully rehabilitated a decade ago, she had hoped to keep the owl in the cold and quiet of her barn, force feed it venison chunks for a few days and then be able to release it. But instead, the owl Roell captured died the following day. Robson said three other owls found near L'Anse and brought to her center had also died.
"They were too far gone by the time they got here," she said. "They are just exhausted and dehydrated. They're so weak they can't even catch food."Robson said anyone finding a seemingly starving or sick owl should contact help as soon as possible.
So many dying, this is not good!Daily Press
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