Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus)

Snowy Owl
Photograph copyright: Ashley Hockenberry - all rights reserved. Used with permission. (view image details)

Snowy Owl | Bubo scandiacus photo

Snowy Owl
Photograph copyright: Ashley Hockenberry - all rights reserved. Used with permission. (view image details)

SNOWY OWL FACTS

Description
The Snowy Owl is a large white owl with some dark brown barring on the head, body, wings and tail. The eyes are yellow. The feet are white and completely feathered. The bill is black. Females are larger than males, and more heavily barred. Males become whiter with age and may be entirely white. Immature birds look like adult females.

Size
length 52cm - 71cm. Weight 1.6kg - 2.9kg.

Environment
open tundra, fields, beaches

Food
Small mammals, birds, fish.

Breeding
Nest is a depression in the ground, on top of a mound or on a boulder. Lays three to eleven white eggs.

Range
The Snowy Owl breeds along arctic cost of Alaska and Canada. Also northern Greenland, Scandinavia, Russia. In North America, it winters in Alaska, Canada and northern United States.

Classification

Class:	Aves
Order:	Strigiformes
Family:	Strigidae
Genus:	Bubo
Species:	scandiacus
Common Name:	Snowy Owl

Relatives in same Genus
Great Horned Owl (B. virginianus)

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