Bird Profiles - Snowy Owl (Nyctea scandiaca)
Pictures @ Ian McGuire
Status
Not globally threatened. Numbers vary dependent on prey availability and in "lemming years" may be very common locally.
Description
Large, pure white owl with black markings, females being more heavily marked than males. Very small ear tufts, often not visible and yellow eyes.
Size
52-66cm, 700-2950g
Range
Circumpolar above latitudes of about 550N. In winter birds range much further south sometimes even as far as Bermuda and Azores.
Habitat
Artic tundra.
Food
Mainly mammals especially lemmings and hares also birds up to the size of ducks.
Breeding
May-September, nest normally a scrape in the ground often on higher ground. 3 to as many as 11 eggs depending on amount of food available. Incubation 32 days, the young often leave the nest by 2 weeks, but cannot fly well until 7 weeks. Remain dependent on parents for a further 10 weeks.
Call
Call a deep booming "kroo kroo".
Comments
Latest DNA evidence indicates that the Snowy Owl is very closely related to the Eagle Owls, particularly the Great Horned Owl Bubo virginianus.
Races Monotypic.
Thank you to the World Owl Trust for their help compiling this page
