White or polar owl
Have you ever seen an owl that is as white as snow? That's The snowy owl! She has big round eyes and fluffy feathers that keep her warm in very cold weather. Her feathers are so white that sometimes it's hard to see her among the snowy plains! Would you recognise her by her eyes? The snowy owl has very bright yellow eyes!
Where it lives
The snowy owl lives in very cold places like the Arctic. This is an area at the top of the world where there are no trees, just small bushes and lots of ice and snow. They choose these places because they can easily hide and hunt there.
What a snowy owl eats
The snowy owls are predators, and they are very good hunters. Polar owls like to catch small animals like lemmings (we sometimes call them guinea pigs). They can also catch birds and other small rodents.
Although many snowy owls hunt at night, snowy owls like to fly during the day. But she especially likes the early morning or evening hours. And in places where the sun doesn't set in the summer (called a "polar day"), snowy owls can hunt whenever they want!
Amazing abilities
The snowy owls have incredible eyesight and hearing. They can see or hear their prey even from a great distance. And when they lunge at their prey, they do it very quietly so that their prey doesn't suspect anything.
Little owls
When it's time to become parents, snowy owls make a nest right on the ground. Owls start laying eggs when there is still a lot of snow around, around May. Usually an owl has 4-7 eggs, but sometimes there may be more and sometimes less.
The mum owl sits on the eggs to keep them warm while the dad owl looks for food for the whole family. The dad also protects the nest from other animals. Interestingly, chicks in the same nest can be different ages because owls lay eggs intermittently. This means that the older chicks are already growing up when the younger ones are just emerging. When the baby owls hatch, they look very fluffy and cute.
When the chicks are about two months old, they begin to learn to fly and will soon be able to start their own adult life, separate from their parents.
Now you know a little more about the magical snowy owl, the queen of cold places!
