Although the snowy owl is also known as the polar owl, this magnificent bird has a habitat which spans both the Arctic regions of North America, and much of Europe, temperate areas of Asia, and North Africa. However, the species mainly breeds in treeless areas of tundra, making nests on the ground and caring for broods of up to 11 chicks.
One of the world’s largest species of true owl, it is also the only one with an almost fully white coat of feathers when mature. The whitest animals are usually males, with females having some brown flecking added to their otherwise pale plumage.
A further unusual characteristic is the fact that the snowy owl can be as active during daylight hours as at night. This is particularly true during the Arctic summer, when the bird takes advantage of the long hours of daylight to hunt their favorite prey of lemmings. The snowy owl is the largest predatory bird taking to the skies of the high Arctic, and can have a height of 25 inches, while a male’s wingspan can stretch up to five and a half feet in length.
A nomadic species, snowy owls rarely nest or breed in the same location year on year, and also tend to seek out different mates each breeding season. It’s thought that there are as little as 28,000 breeding pairs worldwide, leading their populations to be listed as vulnerable.
Their nomadic ways allow them to follow prey patterns across continents, with the best chance of spotting the creatures hunting being in Alaska (particularly the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge), and northern Canada’s Arctic Islands, alongside remote areas of Greenland, and Iceland.
Snowy owls are known to live for 25-30 years in captivity, giving them one of the longest lifespans of any bird, while ten years is deemed a good lifespan for wild birds.
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