Snowy Owl pictures from wildlife photos on webshots

Album Info:

Uploaded by: arina223

In album: Our feathered friends

In Webshots channel: outdoors
Tags: Wildlife, zoo, outdoors, see more...
Date uploaded: Feb 10, 2008

A large owl of the typical owl family Strigidae. It is also known in North America as the Arctic Owl or the Great White Owl. This yellow-eyed white bird is easily recognizeable. It is 53-65 cm (20-26 inches) long with a 125-150 cm (50-60 in) wingspan. The adult maleis virtually pure white, but females and young birds have some dark scalloping; the young are heavily barred, and dark spotting may even be predominate. Its thick plumage, heavily-feathered feet, and coloration render the Snowy Owl well-adapted for life north of the Arctic Circle. This powerful bird relies primarily on lemmings and other rodents for food, but at times of low prey density, or during the Ptarmigan nesting period, they may switch to juvenile Ptarmigan. As opportunistic hunters, they feed on a wide variety of small mammals and birds, but will take advantage of larger prey, frequently following traplines to find food. Nesting birds require roughly two lemmings per day, and a family may eat up to 1500 lemmings before the young birds set off to fend for themselves.

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