While we all prefer days where the winter sky is deep blue, and the temperatures are in the mid 20’s, for the prospect of seeing owls a dark day w/o wind is best. A few days back I found multiple Snowy Owls hunting long after sunrise. Light snow was falling without much wind. Perfect for owls to remain out and hunt if it weren’t for those darn crows!

Actually, I think this female Snowy Owl was quite happy to have me arrive on the scene. Some local crows were harassing it, but moved off when I came near. Thus, the owl let me get real close as I provided the fringe benefit of scaring off said crows. You can hear them cawing in the video.

We seem to be experiencing a bit of a small Snowy Owl irruption in the Duluth area this winter. The numbers of white owls I am seeing is truly impressive. However, this does not necessary mean breeding success up in the Arctic last summer. Snowy Owls move hundreds, if not thousands of miles between summers in search of lemmings. Thus, a good breeding area one year may be horrible the next. It is quite possible that the owls nested in larger numbers west of Hudson’s Bay in the Arctic this year. Next sumner they could be over by Greenland in larger numbers. I personally support the Owl Research Institute with both financial and my “Hey There Mr. Owl!” book contributions. This team has been researching owls, including Snowies for 30 years. Learn more!

Here are some images of the female Snowy Owl, and below a male Snowy a bit after sunset. Note how the male’s feathers and overall appearance is much whiter. One final comment, in low light (as in snowy days) when taking photographs use burst mode and forget about flight images. Thankfully owls tend to sit very still most of the time. Thus, I get some good photos along with the blurry ones.

Female Snowy Owl

Male Snowy Owl