Snowy Owl Identification

Large white owl with piercing yellow eyes. Adult males range from pure white to white with a few brown spots.

Females/immatures are white with darker barring throughout except on the face, which is always white.

Nests on arctic tundra, often on a slight rise where wind keeps the ground free of snow. In good lemming years, Snowy Owls may raise 10 or more chicks per nest.

Immature females have extensive dark barring throughout and a white face.

Large, hefty owl. In flight note all-white underwings and broad wings.

Winters in treeless areas including shorelines, where prey includes ducks and other waterfowl taken from the water.

Immature females are barred throughout, but note white underwings in flight.

Some adult males are entirely white.

Like other owls, Snowy Owls swallow their prey whole and then regurgitate pellets containing the indigestible parts, such as bones and fur or feathers.

During the winter in some years Snowy Owls show up farther south than normal, to hunt in fields, dunes, and other open areas.

Often found sitting on or near the ground in wide-open areas or perching on rises such as the crests of dunes, fenceposts, telephone poles, or hay bales.

Often perches on the ground, usually in raised areas with a view of the surroundings.