Smith has been capturing snowy owls at Logan since 1981. "You don’t want to be on an aircraft and have a plane hit a bird like a snowy owl and take out an engine," Smith said.

“Snowy owl irruptions made headlines across the northern states a few years ago. In Wisconsin, an airport had to develop a program to remove the majestic birds from dangerous areas.

For The Times’s summer birding project, I spoke to the field guide illustrator about how to sketch a bird. Here’s how he draws a black-capped chickadee → ...