Snowy Owl
The regal Snowy Owl is one of the few birds that can get even non-birders to come out for a look. This largest (by weight) North American owl shows up irregularly in winter to hunt in windswept fields or dunes, a pale shape with catlike yellow eyes. It's a special occasion in the occasional years when one is sighted locally. We've even had a rare visitor in Stanley Park. This shot is from archive file.
They spend summers far north of the Arctic Circle hunting lemmings, ptarmigan, and other prey in 24-hour daylight. In years of lemming population booms they can raise double or triple the usual number of young. Snowy Owls generally mate for life, although if all goes well with the first nest, a male may nest with another mate a mile or so away!
In some years, some North American Snowy Owls remain on their breeding grounds year-round, while others migrate in winter to southern Canada and the northern half of the contiguous United States
Thick feathers for insulation from Arctic cold make Snowy Owls North America’s heaviest owl, typically weighing about 4 pounds—one pound heavier than a Great Horned Owl and twice the weight of a Great Gray Owl (North America’s tallest owl).
John James Audubon once saw a Snowy Owl lying at the edge of an ice hole, where it waited for fish and caught them using its feet
.
The oldest-known Snowy Owl was a female, and at least 23 years, 10 months old when she was recaptured and rereleased in 2015 during banding operations in Massachusetts.
Snowy Owl
The regal Snowy Owl is one of the few birds that can get even non-birders to come out for a look. This largest (by weight) North American owl shows up irregularly in winter to hunt in windswept fields or dunes, a pale shape with catlike yellow eyes. It's a special occasion in the occasional years when one is sighted locally. We've even had a rare visitor in Stanley Park. This shot is from archive file.
They spend summers far north of the Arctic Circle hunting lemmings, ptarmigan, and other prey in 24-hour daylight. In years of lemming population booms they can raise double or triple the usual number of young. Snowy Owls generally mate for life, although if all goes well with the first nest, a male may nest with another mate a mile or so away!
In some years, some North American Snowy Owls remain on their breeding grounds year-round, while others migrate in winter to southern Canada and the northern half of the contiguous United States
Thick feathers for insulation from Arctic cold make Snowy Owls North America’s heaviest owl, typically weighing about 4 pounds—one pound heavier than a Great Horned Owl and twice the weight of a Great Gray Owl (North America’s tallest owl).
John James Audubon once saw a Snowy Owl lying at the edge of an ice hole, where it waited for fish and caught them using its feet
.
The oldest-known Snowy Owl was a female, and at least 23 years, 10 months old when she was recaptured and rereleased in 2015 during banding operations in Massachusetts.