Snowy Owl

Snowy owls are quite cool.

Snowy owls are large owls from the Strigidae family, the family of true owls, and have the scientific name Bubo scandiacus.
The snowy owl is native to northern Eurasia and northern parts of North America, and is also known as a ‘Great white owl’, ‘Ghost owl’, ‘Snow owl’, ‘Arctic owl’, ‘Ermine owl’, ‘Ookpik’, ‘Tundra ghost’, ‘White terror of the north’, ‘Highland tundra owl’, and ‘Scandinavian nightbird’.
Snowy owls have yellow eyes; beaks that are black; and feathers coloured white, with black markings, and females look darker and have more prominent markings.
Snowy owls grow to be 52 to 71 centimetres (20 to 28 inches) in height, and have a wingspan of 125 to 150 centimetres (49 to 59 inches).
Snowy owls typically weigh 1.6 to 3 kilograms (3.5 to 6.6 pounds)and have an average lifespan of 9.5 years, although in captivity they can live up to 35 years.

Snowy owls build their nest on or near the ground, preferably on a high spot like a boulder or mound with a good view, generally by scraping the ground with their talons, and sometimes they use nests of other birds.
Female snowy owls produce from three to eleven white eggs in one clutch, and the eggs do not hatch all at once.
A snowy owls’ diet includes rodents, birds, fish and small mammals, although it mainly consists of lemmings that they swallow whole, with each owl consuming three to five per day, or more than 1600 in a year, while their young usually need two per day.
Snowy owls’ nests are preyed on by dogs, foxes, wolves and birds, however, the male owl usually stands guard, and both will launch an attack to defend their nest and young.
Snowy owls, are different to most owls, in that they generally hunt during daylight hours.

Amazon: