SNOWY OWL

The snowy owl is the largest arctic bird. In winter it spends its time sleeping and sheltering to avoid eating because food is scarce.

The snowy owl had one of the biggest evolutions. It adapted to long periods without food. In the summer the Arctic has constant daylight and in the winter darkness. It is also well insulated to cope with the harsh weather in the Tundra. 

The plumage insulates them from very cold temperatures. They hunt at night where temperature is even lower. The plumage also prevents body heat loss and therefore they need less food. This again helps them to survive hard times when there is very little food about.

Their plumage covers them completely apart from the peak and eyes. Even the eyes are covered with long dense eye lashes. The legs are cover with long thickly feather like trousers and go all the way down to the claws. Under the close outer feather the snowy owl has a layer of fine thermal down. The feathers are hollow told warm air.

SNOWY OWL FEMALE

SNOWY OWL MALE

The male is almost pure white which serves as great camouflage. The female has some brown feather and this helps to camouflage her when she sits on her eggs.

Its main predators are the Arctic Fox. Although the fox has very rarely a chance to kill an adult because of the snowy owl size but it can snatch chicks or eggs.

BREEDING

The snow owl builds its nest on the ground but on a higher point to be able to spot any danger. Both parents are active in making the nest. They scrape out a hollow and line it with sticks and moss but very thinly.

The female is much heavier than the male. She also adds more body fat before she sits down to incubate the nest. She needs this entire extra because she will sit on the nest for about eight weeks during which she doesn’t leave or rarely the nest. Turing this time her mate will bring food.

On the Tundra the main food supply is lemmings. They survive under the snow and breed heavily when vegetation starts to grow. Since the breeding of lemmings vary from year to year it has an impact on the number of eggs and chicks the snowy owl produce.

The amazing fact is that the snowy owl starts to incubate with the first egg. If the food surplus is scarce the female stops producing eggs. Therefore the eggs could be two or up to 14.

Since the female begins to sit on the nest when the first egg is laid the chicks are then all different sizes. They feed the oldest chick first and then go down to the youngest. If the food supplies are getting less; the older chicks are to surviving. It had been seen that the female also feeds the younger chicks which died to feed them to their older brothers and sisters.

SNOWY OWLS' CHICKS

The time of incubation is finish when the young ones can leave the nest and at the time when lemmings are most numerous. This also gives the young bird a chance to learn to hunt.

At that time the snowy owl also mould and rids itself of old worn out feathers. The Arctic condition demands that the bird’s plumage is in perfect condition.

When autumn arrives and the food supplies plumage the adult owls separate. Each defending its hunting ground.  The young birds are driven away. They can travel long distance to find good hunting grounds. Some go to Canada, Russia, and Scandinavia. They also have been seen resting on icebergs. Some come as far as Britain and some come to the Shetland and feed on rabbits.

HUNTING

With a height of 60cm and their wingspan more than a metre the snowy owls can kill much bigger prey than  lemmings. It kills hares and birds up to size of black grouse. It usually sits and watches all round. When an animal or bird is careless it swoops silently down and kills it with its powerful claws. It had been observed to dive under the snow to get at its prey.