SNOWY OWL

By Halley, Bank Street School for Children

Eating
Mating and Reproduction
Appearance
Behavior
Environment
Adaptation
Other

EATING

A snowy owl eats living creatures none that are dead. The snowy's main source of food is lemming. If they cannot find any lemmings, they prey on small ducks and songbirds. When the female is away preditors come fast. A fox is a big enemy of the snowy owl.

One baby owlet eats 150 lemmings, and he or she is still hungry. When the male gets the food he brings it to the female who rips it up into bite size pieces for the young. When a baby sees dad coming with food, it starts screeching so the female quickly stuffs food into the mouth of the older babies before feeding the younger ones. The older and bigger babies usually get more food than the younger, and are better off with the ways of getting food. After owlets are born they are given food immediately. As soon as the baby owlets are big enough they go out hunting with their parents.

The snowy owl circles around its prey before attacking. When lemmings are plentiful, an owl will have up to 15 eggs, but when there are not a lot of lemming, they might have 2-3 eggs. They also might not nest at all. If snowy owls cannot find any food they will fly as far south as America. Snowy owls will leave the tundra to follow the lemming, but only because of that!

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MATING AND REPRODUCTION

When a male wants to attract a female, he brings her a lemming. She will usually accept him but if she doesn't like his behavior she will send him away. She makes certain screeches for different things that are different answers.

After one month of sitting on the egg it hatches. The eggs are laid several days apart and it takes a month for them to hatch. As soon as the owlets are born they are fed. In a few days the baby snowy owls are able to stand. By this time another baby is born. The babies are always different ages and sizes.

The baby owlets are raised by both parents. The male and female take them hunting when they start to get grayish hair. That is a sign of puberty for snowy owls.

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APPEARANCE - LOOKS AND BODY

The snowy owl is one of the largest birds in the world. When the snowy owl is standing up it is 27 inches tall. They are from 45 -60 inches wide with their wings spread. The snowy owl's vision is so great that nothing gets away on the treeless country.

The female has brown markings. The male has no color other than white at all, except for its black beak and eyes. The snowy owl has two sets of feathers. The first set is used as insulation to keep them warm in the arctic's cold weather. The second set is a fluffy set which makes them look bigger and it will make other animals think that it is bigger when it really is not.

When the snowy owl is young it is covered with a fluffy white down which sometimes protect them from hungry preditors! Snowies can look very deceiving...... like a cute cuddly panda but if you even reach out your hand you might agitate it even more then it already is! You will agitate it even by reaching out your hand.

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BEHAVIOR AND LIFE STYLE

The snowy owl nests along the arctic coast because that's where the most lemmings are. However, there is something that stands out in behavior, big time. Most owls hunt at night but the snowy owl hunts night and day. The reason for this is that in the arctic even though the summers are mostly light and winters mostly dark, the snowy owl has to hunt and can't be bothered by darkness or the light.

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ENVIRONMENT AND SHELTER

The snowy owl lives on the tundra for all of its life, unless it is forced to leave for as far south as it needs to go for food. The snowy owl is born around June and July! So, they don't have to bare the cold when they hatch!! The male and female mate, then the female produces en egg and the egg hatches over a month! Their nests are made out of: feathers, sticks, twigs, grass, etc. The nests are usually pretty high so its harder for the predators to get the baby snowy owlets!!! The baby snowy owls are on the tundra when they are born. The snowy owls live on the arctic coast. They stay there unless they can't find any food !!!!

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ADAPTATION

The snowy owl has to live in a very cold climate to survive. For example, if the snowy owl lived in the Amazon Rain Forest, then it would surely die because the snowy is used to living on the arctic's cold tundra without trees or hot air. Plus, there would not be any lemming to eat. Also, the snowy has two sets of feathers and it would be hard to shed the feathers that they always had!

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OTHER FACTS

Some birds like the Skusa black backed gull and falcons swoop down and snatch up an egg without the parents noticing anything at all. However, the main, main enemy of the snowy owl is man. Example. In the northern parts of the world, snowy owls are protected by law. But when they go down south for food they will sometimes get shot because they are not protected by law any more so there is more chance of them getting killed.

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