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Snowy owl

Snowy Owls (arctic owls, the great white owls, Bubo scandiaca) are white birds with varying amounts of black or brown markings on the body and wings, with yellow eyes.

Usually hunts by watching for prey from a perch, then pursuing it in swift flight and catching prey in talons. Snowy owls mainly eat mammals, ranging from small rodents to large hares. They are also known to eat birds ranging in size from small songbirds to medium-sized geese and lemmings.  It must capture the equivalent of 7 to 12 mice a day to meet its food requirements.

Unlike most owls, snowy owl is active during the day as well as at night. It has disks of stiff feathers around its eyes that reflect sound waves to its ear openings

Snowy owls nest on the Arctic tundra, where females lay a clutch of 3 to 11 eggs, laid asynchronously one every 2-3 days. Clutch size depends upon the availability of food, and in particularly lean times a usually monogamous pair of owls may not breed at all. Parents are territorial and will defend their nests against all comers – even wolves.

 

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