Snowy Owl
Bubo scandiacus
Summary 2
The snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus) is a large, white owl of the typical owl family. Snowy owls are native to Arctic regions in North America and Eurasia. Males are almost all white, while females have more flecks of black plumage. Juvenile snowy owls have black feathers until they turn white. The snowy owl is a ground nester that primarily hunts rodents and waterfowl, and opportunistically eats carrion. Most owls sleep during the day and hunt at night, but the snowy owl is active during the day, especially in the summertime.
This yellow-eyed, black-beaked white bird is easily recognisable. It is 52–71 cm (20–28 in) long, with a 125–150 cm (49–59 in) wingspan. Also, these owls can weigh anywhere from 1.6 to 3 kg (3.5 to 6.6 lb). The average lifespan in the wild is ten years.[6] It is one of the largest species of owl and, in North America, is on average the heaviest owl species. The adult male is virtually pure white, but females and young birds have some dark spots; the young are heavily barred, and dark spotting may even predominate. Its thick plumage, heavily feathered taloned feet, and colouration render the snowy owl well-adapted for life north of the Arctic Circle.
Snowy owl calls are varied, but the alarm call is a barking, almost quacking krek-krek; the female also has a softer mewling pyee-pyee or prek-prek. The song is a deep repeated gahw. They may also clap their beak in response to threats or annoyances. While called clapping, it is believed this sound may actually be a clicking of the tongue, not the beak.
The snowy owl is typically found in the northern circumpolar region, where it makes its summer home north of latitude 60° north. However, it is a particularly nomadic bird, and because population fluctuations in its prey species can force it to relocate, it has been known to breed at more southerly latitudes. During the last glacial period, there was a Central European subspecies, Bubo scandiacus gallicus, but no modern subspecies are recognized.
Wing structure
Snowy owls nest in the Arctic tundra of the northernmost stretches of Alaska, Northern Canada, and Eurasia. They winter south through Canada and northern Eurasia, with irruptions occurring further south in some years. Snowy owls are attracted to open areas like coastal dunes and prairies that appear somewhat similar to tundra. During irruption years when they are found in the Northeastern US, juveniles frequent developed areas, as well as the expected grassland/agricultural areas that older birds primarily utilize. All ages spend a fair amount of their time over water in the Great Lakes and Atlantic Ocean, mostly on ice floes.[7] They have been reported as far south as the American Gulf Coast states, Hawaii, southernmost Russia, and northern China.
Snowy owl carries its kill, an American black duck, in "the pool" in Biddeford Pool, Maine, at low tide.
In the Late Pleistocene the range expanded southward to Bulgaria (80,000–16,000 years, Kozarnika Cave, W Bulgaria),[8] and much of the Italian Peninsula.[9]
In February 1886, a snowy owl landed on the rigging of the Nova Scotia steamship Ulunda on the edge of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, over 600 km (370 mi) from the nearest land. It was captured and later preserved at the Nova Scotia Museum.[10]
Between 1967 and 1975, snowy owls bred on the remote island of Fetlar in the Shetland Isles north of Scotland. Females summered as recently as 1993, but their status in the British Isles is now that of a rare winter visitor to Shetland, the Outer Hebrides and the Cairngorms.[11]
In January 2009, a snowy owl appeared in Spring Hill, Tennessee, the first reported sighting in the state since 1987.[12] Also notable is the mass southern migration in the winter of 2011/2012, when thousands of snowy owls were spotted in various locations across the United States.[13] This was then followed by an even larger mass southern migration in 2013/2014 with the first snowy owls seen in Florida for decades.[14][15]
Sources and Credits
- (c) Frank Vassen, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://www.flickr.com/photos/42244964@N03/12755531383/
- Adapted by calgaryzoo from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubo_scandiacus
