{"id":424,"date":"2017-10-12T10:15:22","date_gmt":"2017-10-12T10:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/biol325\/?p=424"},"modified":"2017-10-14T18:52:01","modified_gmt":"2017-10-14T18:52:01","slug":"snowy-owl-bubo-scandiaca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.viu.ca\/biol325\/2017\/10\/12\/snowy-owl-bubo-scandiaca\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus)<\/em><\/h3>\n

\u00a0Marina Hayward<\/p>\n

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www.cmczoo.com\/animal_images\/01112015092413_snowy-owl-flying-across-a-field-in-falling-snow.jpg<\/p><\/div>\n

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General Description<\/strong><\/p>\n

Snowy owls are well known for their enchanting wintery appearance: snow white feathers and large, luminous yellow eyes. It is very appropriate for blending into their primary habitat, the Arctic tundra. This is a place where they will experience freezing temperatures, as well as 24 hour daylight in the arctic summer and 24 hour night in the arctic winter. Therefore, they must have particular adaptations that allow them to endure such harsh living conditions.<\/p>\n

White Colouring<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the winter, the unique white colouring and dark markings on snowy owls allows them to completely camouflage into their snowy environment. The amount of dark markings on their white plumage indicates the gender. All young snowy owls get whiter as they get older, but this is especially true for males. Some old males literally become as white as the snow, although most tend to have small marks of dusky plumage and retain up to three tail bands. Females, on the other hand, are darker than males with dusky spotting, never become totally white, and may have up to six tail bands (Montana Field Guide, 2017).<\/p>\n