Big and beautiful, snowy owls are the definition of a charismatic wildlife species.

The birds are the heaviest owl (from 3 to 6 pounds) in North America and have 5-foot wingspans. In addition, they possess bright white plumage, often accented with dark barring, and large yellow eyes.

The birds rarely escape notice of trained professionals and average citizens alike.

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But for all their attractiveness, relatively little is known about snowy owls.

With the lower 48 states experiencing perhaps the largest irruption of snowies in decades, researchers with Project SNOWstorm are planning to place GPS transmitters on 10 owls this winter, including several in Wisconsin.

The effort is intended to learn more about the birds' habitat choices and travel patterns on their southern winter range. Critically, researchers want to begin tracking birds before they settle into spots for the season.

Snowy owls breed during the summer in the Arctic. The birds lay eggs in shallow depressions on the ground and feed their young on rodents, mostly lemmings.

When lemmings are abundant, snowies are able to successfully hatch and fledge more young. By all reports, 2017 was such a year.

As of Wednesday, an estimated 173 snowy owls had been tallied across 57 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties, said Ryan Brady, bird monitoring coordinator with the Department of Natural Resources.

This season's snowy owl total compares to only 13 as of the same date in 2016, 102 in 2015, 161 in 2014 and 91 in 2013.

The most individual snowies Brady has ever recorded was 248 in the winter of 2013-'14. This year's irruption could well top that total.

The high number of owls produced this year resulted in an increased movement of the birds, mostly juveniles, from their breeding grounds into the U.S, said Scott Weidensaul, an owl researcher and co-founder of Project SNOWstorm from Pennsylvania.

Project SNOWstorm has been tagging and tracking snowy owls since 2013.

The birds are trapped, fitted with tracking devices and released. If they had been frequenting an airport or other site that endangered humans and the bird, they are taken to a new spot and set free.

The lightweight, solar-powered tracking devices provide precise, real-time information of a bird’s location several times an hour, 24 hours a day.

The cost of the GPS units limits the number of birds researchers can put "on the air."

Here in the Badger State, the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin is assisting with fundraising efforts. The foundation will match donations dollar-for-dollar (up to $3,000) for the Wisconsin snowy owl tracking work.

Since researchers want to begin tracking owls as soon as possible, the matching offer is good through Dec. 20.

Visit www.wisconservation.org or call (866) 264-4096 for more information or to make a donation.