Nature
PUBLISHED
Taking a brief break from its usual view of dreary cars and gray tarmac, a traffic camera in Montreal, Canada caught a glimpse of something a bit more unusual.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.A snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus) was snapped on the morning of January 3, by a traffic camera on an intersection of Autoroute 40 and the Boulevard des Sources, in the West Island of Montreal. The photograph came to light after Quebec’s transport minister, Robert Poeti, shared it through his Twitter and Facebook.
Rather suitably, the snowy owl is also the official symbol of Quebec. The bird usually lives north of the province in the Arctic tundra. However, during the harsher winter months they often fly to the south to find food.
Quebec’s Ministry for Transport live-streams all of their traffic cameras online. It is believed the owl, which appears to be making eye contact with the camera, was actually scouting out a place to perch on top of the webcam.
Snowy owl captured on Montreal traffic camera. pic.twitter.com/vkEs3dBWgo
— ANIMALS-R-US (@Animal_R_Us) January 8, 2016
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