Snowy Owl Photo Gallery

Adult male

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

Adult female/immature

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

Adult female and male

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 female

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

Adult female/immature

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

Adult female/immature male

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

Immature female

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

Adult male

Some adult males are entirely white.

Adult female

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

Immature female

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

Immature female

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.