Snowy owls are classified as members of Kingdom Animalia. These birds came under the phylum Chordata and class-specific to them is called Aves. These are members of the family Tytonidae and order Strigiformes. Other names used for snowy owls are Ghost owl, Tundra ghost, Scandinavian nightbird, Great white owl, Ermine owl, Ookpik, and Highland Tundra owl. The snowy owl is the official bird of Quebec.
They are less than 200,000 worldwide. The snowy owl is a lovely, attractive, and deadly bird inhabitant of the arctic circle. They are rarely seen beyond their icy surroundings. The scientific name of snowy owls is Bubo scandiacus. They live in arctic areas of Europe, Asia, and North America. They mostly adopted a Nomadic lifestyle and were sometimes migratory. Their main habitat is in Greenland, Canada, America, and Siberia. They can move to farther areas for hunting. They are having a strong link with their eatable things.
When food is deficient in their area, they migrate to the south areas of the world such as California, Russia, Scandinavia, and Florida. They migrate rarely, but to different areas. Some owls remain in their nests for 5 to 6 years before their migration. The main reason for their migration towards the south is a scarcity of food in their arctic areas.
Characteristics including their voices, nesting, and habitat
Snowy owls are pure white and have dispersed white spots on the feathers of their tails and wings. The females are larger as compared to males and can be differentiated by their feather markings. The females are young, having more dark spots on their tails, wings, chest, and head but their face and feet are spotless and white. They are having a beak of black color and yellow eyes. The feathers present on their feet provide them protection against frostbite in severe weather.
These feathers also avoid injuries from biting prey. Their weight varies from 3.5 to 6.5 pounds. Their body length is 20 to 28 inches. The wings span is 4.2 to 4.8 feet. Their breeding season starts in May and has a duration of 4 months. Their nesting area is free of snow to protect hatching chicks. The number of eggs varies between 3 to 12.
A clutch can be 14 to 16 in number but it rarely happens. When a large quantity of food is available, the size of the clutch is larger. During food shortages, females avoid breeding or delivering small clutches. Male search food for females and they give incubation to eggs for 30 to 32 days. The average life span of snowy owls is 10 years in the wild and 35 years in custody they can survive for 35 years.
They are usually silent in their non-breeding time. They have loud booming calls called “hoo, hoo” in the breeding period”. When females are excited. They show voices such as “hoo-uh, hoo-uh, wuh-wuh-wuh. Other sounds involved are hissing, barking, cackles, and bill snapping. These birds are lonely and do not prefer socialization.
They are monogamous and both males and females defend their area by force. These birds are active in the daytime, during dawn, and dusk areas. They spend their time on flat grounds or some heights for the search of prey. This method is more comfortable for them than resting in trees due to their broad and short legs.
What Do Snowy Owls Eat? List of Food Items
These birds are active predators and their prey often present in short grasses. Hunting is usually done by sitting on high altitudes in search of prey and eating rodents, voles, lemmings, and different birds. They visit large areas in search of food. Without food, they cannot even breed. In search of food and urge of different varieties of diets, they migrate to the southern areas of the world.
Fish
In the arctic areas, the most available food item is fish but it is available in the regions of Alaska and Canada. The species of fish available in arctic regions are Lake Trout, Arctic Grayling, Whitefish, Brook trout, and Northern Pike. Sometimes in the winter season, these birds travel to coastal areas to enjoy common fish of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. They sit on the beach in search of prey.
Lemmings
These are the tiny rodents in the arctic region and act as the primary food source for snowy owls. Some other predators also use lemmings for eating purposes. Due to overhunting, their number is decreasing day by day. During the period of shortage of food, not produce their young ones.
Arctic hares
When lemmings are not there, these birds survive on arctic hares. These hares are 28 inches in length and almost double in weight as compared to the snowy owls. Only adult and strong owls can hunt and feed on young hares.
Rats, ducks, and cats
In the winter season, snowy owls eat rats. Rats are available in large amounts in their natural residential area and the migratory areas. Usually, rats cannot survive the winter season, so they are hunted mostly in southern Canada and the Northern United States. These birds can survive on ducks. Snowy owls are having the good ability to catch prey while flying. As ducks are slow-moving birds and easily caught by the claws of fast-flying owls. Cats are not the regular part of their meal. If possible, snowy owls will hunt them, but not commonly.
Plants and berries
They do not eat plants. their beaks and their digestive system are not prepared for eating and swallowing plants and fruits. They cannot digest and utilize plants for their energy needs. Through hunting mammals, they fulfill their energy requirements and prefer them as their food.
Carnivores and the process of hunting
These are carnivores and eat birds and other insects as their food. As vegetation is so deficient in their home area so they survive on other small animals and are called carnivores. Like other birds, they have excellent vision. Due to the snowy environment and deep plants, some prey is not visible, so they rely on their hearing sense. When prey is spotted and flying on the lower area, then they are attacked by the talons of snowy owls and kill them.
What Do Snowy Owls Eat in the Wild?
In wild, they eat small game birds, especially lemmings. They eat ducks, voles, rodents, mice, sea birds, ducks, arctic hares, and other birds. They are opportunistic hunters and can also eat different amphibians, insects, fish, and grouse.
What Do Snowy Owls Eat in the Summer?
The snowy owls prefer to inhabit in northern areas of Canada, in the arctic tundra, in the summer season. Trees and dwarf shrubs are scarce. They use marmots, chinchillas, lemmings, squirrels, arctic hare, small rodents, and pika. In their home areas, they prefer eating lemmings.
What Do Snowy Owls Eat in the Winter?
During November and December, they started migrating towards the south. They mostly stay till April before returning to the tundra for breeding purposes. In the winter season, they survive on rabbits, ducks, squirrels, mice, and geese.
What Do Baby Snowy Owls Eat?
Females lay one egg after 3 to 5 days and give them incubation for 32 days. Baby chicks are less than 2 ounces in weight. Babies live in the nest for 21 days. Baby siblings are not aggressive with one another even when they become young. They usually live-in close vicinity during harsh environments.
The baby kids are mostly born in the early fall or summer season. During this period, the babies survive on the lemmings of their area. For the first few days after their birth, the mother sits on them for the purpose of brooding. The males hunt food for them and bring that back to the nest. The mother breaks meat into smaller pieces to feed her baby birds.
As an adaptation to a severe environment, after three weeks of their birth, they leave the nest by walking on their foot. After six to seven weeks, they become able to fly. After 2 months, they hunt on their own and their favorite food is lemmings. Parents help them in eating and migrating to different areas up to 10 weeks after that they live their life independently.
Drinking habits of snowy owls
They fulfill their hydration requirements by eating the meat of other animals. Either they eat snow or drink water when the atmosphere becomes moderate. They sometimes take bath and drink some water to maintain their hydration status.
What they do not prefer?
Being limited carnivores, they eliminate most of the eatable things and do not include those things in their diet. The native areas where snowy owls live have an abundance of food items for them. These birds have their preferences for eating. They do not eat leaves, plants, and fruits because they prefer the meat of other animals. Besides that, they do not eat various varieties of berries. They do not eat owls, wolf spiders, wolverines, reindeer, wolves, foxes, and polar bears. They cannot eat barks, grass, cherries, or anything related to vegetation. They cannot utilize birds’ seeds or birds’ feeders.
