Snowy owls aren’t endangered or threatened. But they aren’t found here, either.

Biologists think snowy owls, usually youngsters, stray south during cycles when lemmings are scarce. The owls live and nest on the tundra, in Alaska, the Northwest Territories all the way the over to Greenland.

But it’s unusual for them to stray this far south.

This year, two snowy owl sightings have been reported at Portland and one at Newport. Biologists may try to capture and relocate one at the Portland airport, as they do other raptors that hunt along runways, to prevent it from colliding with a plane. The other one along Interstate 205 was struck by a car, according to Roy Lowe, coastal wildlife refuge project leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The last snowy owl here settled onto the North Spit briefly in November 1996. Others were seen farther north on the coast that year.

One reportedly was seen last month in Bandon and locals are speculating it might have been the same bird that was on the North Spit last weekend.

Lowe said these rare bird sightings can draw people from all over. Last year, hundreds of people flocked to Eugene to see a falcated duck, including one woman who came from Florida.

“It can be a real tourism boost for an area,” he said.