A remarkable video has emerged from Duluth, Minnesota of a man rescuing a stranded snowy owl from the ice on Lake Superior.

Local birder Richard Hoeg first noticed the owl on the ice at dawn on December 3 but initially did not think the bird was in trouble.

However, when Hoeg returned to the same location at 1pm, the owl was still there and a walker told him that her dogs had been over to the owl and it had not moved.

"At this point I knew the snowy was in trouble," Hoeg said. "It should have flown away to escape the dogs."

Now, Hoeg decided to try to rescue the owl.

He waded out through broken ice and then, using a fishing net attached to a long pole with duct tape, he managed to carefully pull the bird off the ice and into his hands.

The owl was wrapped in a blanket and taken to the Wildwoods wildlife rehabilitation centre in Duluth.