Snowy Owl engraving, John James Audubon

 

Fun Facts About the Snowy Owl:

 - Male Snowy Owls are barred with dark brown when they’re young and get whiter as they age. Females keep some dark markings throughout their lives. Although the darkest males and the palest females are nearly alike in color, the whitest birds are always males and the most heavily barred ones are always females.

 - Unless you visit the high arctic, you’ll mainly be looking for Snowy Owls during winter in open areas such as fields and shorelines. They often perch on rises such as the crests of dunes, or on fence posts, telephone poles, and hay bales. They usually stay close to the ground when flying.
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.

 - Unlike most owls, Snowy Owls are diurnal, extremely so. They’ll hunt at all hours during the continuous daylight of an Arctic summer.
Snowy Owls are one of the most agile owls, able to catch small birds on the fly. They mainly eat small mammals, particularly lemmings, which at times on the tundra may be all these birds eat. On both their breeding and wintering grounds, their diet can range widely to include rodents, rabbits, hares, squirrels, weasels, wading birds, seabirds, ducks, grebes, and geese.

 - When nesting, it is thought that the male selects the territory, and the female chooses the nest site within the territory. Snowy owls nest right on the tundra. They prefer slight, windswept rises that will be dry and blown free of snow. The female builds the nest, scraping out a shallow hollow on the bare ground and shaping it by pressing her body into the depression. The process takes a few days, and the owls may reuse the nest site for many years.

 - 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).

 - The Snowy Owl can be found represented in cave paintings in Europe!

 - In popular culture, the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling, and subsequent films of the same name, feature a female Snowy Owl named Hedwig. However, they used male owls to play the part in the films.