NEON Volunteers on the Snowy Owl Project

The extreme climate and unique ecological conditions of Barrow, Alaska make it a place of interest for researchers from around the world and from a variety of disciplines. When weather is bad or the tundra is inaccessible, these down-times lend themselves to learning about the research of others, exchanging information and ideas, and helping each other out with projects.

Rachel Pernick and Mark Mullinger are researchers from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). When late spring conditions delayed their phenology monitoring (the reproductive timing of plants), they volunteered to help Denver with nest monitoring. As you can imagine, they were very excited to be able to peer into a nest of newly hatched Snowy Owl chicks!

Thanks for your assistance and these great photos, Rachel and Mark!

Read more about NEON here:

https://www.neonscience.org