Size: Length; 52-70 cm. Wingspan; 125-150cm. Weight; 1 -1.6 kg.

Habitat and Distribution: The Snowy Owl is usually found in the open tundra and lowland meadows around the Northern Polar regions. In the breeding season they are found in coastal Alaska, Canada, and Greenland, as well as in northern Scandinavia, Russia, southern Novaya Zemlya and northern Siberia. In winter, Snowy Owls can be found in Canada and the northern United States, as well as occasionally as far south as the USA, Iceland, the UK, northern Europe, central Russia and northern China.

Age: Up to around 12 years in the wild (winters can be very harsh and first year mortality is often very high), but up to 30 years in captivity.

Groups and Breeding: Unlike other owls, Snowy Owls do not mate for life. They are a nomadic bird and will choose different territories and different mates every breeding season.

The Snowy Owl nests almost exclusively on the ground, where the female makes a shallow scrape with her talons on top of a mound, or boulder. Abandoned eagle nests are also used occasionally. Nests may be lined with scraps of vegetation and owl feathers and are near good hunting areas with a good view of surroundings. Breeding occurs in May, when the female will lay between 5 to 8 eggs at 2 day intervals. The female incubates while the male brings her food and guards the nest. Eggs hatch in 32-34 days at two day intervals, leading to large age differences in nests with large clutch sizes. Young start to leave the nest before they can fly at around 25 days and fledge at 50 to 60 days. Both parents feed and tend the young, and are fiercely protective.

Diet: Snowy owls rely primarily on catching lemmings and other rodents but they are opportunistic hunters so they may also take other small mammals and birds.

• Owls cannot move their eyes in their eye sockets. Instead to see things they must turn their head in the direction they want to look.
• Males are completely white whilst females and juveniles have brown bars in their plumage to make them more cryptic when nesting on the ground.
• The numbers of eggs laid depends on the amount of prey/food available at the time of laying. They may not lay any when there is little to eat, or up to 14 eggs in times when lemmings are plentiful.
• A young owl needs at least 2 lemmings a day to survive. A family of Snowy Owls can eat up to 1500 lemmings before the young leave the nest completely.
• Nesting parents are highly protective of their young and will attack intruders coming within 1 km of their nest!
• Although Snowy Owls appear to be very big, much of this appearance is due to the density of their feathers which even cover their legs and feet. In fact, the biggest feathers on a Snowy Owl are three times the size of the feathers found on their nearest relative the Great Horned Owl.
• When food is scarce, Snowy Owls can live off their fat reserves for up to 6 weeks.
• Because Snowy Owls hunt near to their nesting site, other birds such as the Snow Goose will nest nearby also as they know that the owls will keep predators clear of the area.
• In Romania, it is said that the souls of repentant sinners fly to heaven as Snowy Owls.