Snowy Owls

[00:00:00] Alex Re: Hello. Welcome to On Wildlife. I'm your host, Alex Re. On this podcast, we bring the wild to you. We take you on a journey into the life of a different animal every week, and I guarantee you you're going to come out of here knowing more about your favorite animal than you did before. Today, we're revisiting an animal that I talked about on one of our very first episodes, but going deeper into one particular species.

[00:00:27] This majestic bird is built for freezing cold climates, And it may be one of the animals that pops into your head when you start thinking about winter. So put on your snow boots as we head up north to talk about snowy owls.

[00:00:58] Snowy owls are a species with the scientific name Bubo scandiacus. Bubo is the Latin name for a horned owl, and Scandiacus refers to the Scandinavian region, probably where they were first observed. These birds are only found in the Northern Hemisphere, and they can live all the way up towards the North Pole, and depending on the time of year, in North America and northern parts of Europe and Asia.

[00:01:25] They've even been depicted in cave paintings in Europe from tens of thousands of years ago. Also, they're the largest owl in North America by weight. They can weigh around six and a half pounds and have a wingspan of about five feet in length. You can differentiate this species from a lot of other owl species by looking at their feathers.

[00:01:47] They have mostly white colored feathers with some black speckles around. And if you think about the habitats that they live in, which are mainly cold, snowy tundras, it makes sense why they're white. It's easy for them to blend in with their snowy environment. Snowy owls have a lot of interesting adaptations to help battle the extreme cold of their environment.

[00:02:09] Remember that being able to keep a stable body temperature within your environment is called thermoregulation. And one of my favorite adaptations is that they have feathers covering their feet, kind of like socks, to keep them warm. And you'll actually see a lot of animals that live in cold climates have this adaptation.

[00:02:30] Their feathers are also extremely dense, which keeps cold air away from their bodies and traps warm air close to their bodies. They've been seen to survive in temperatures of negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit and maintain normal bodily functions. Some say that they can even survive in colder temperatures than that.

[00:02:51] You'll also see snowy owls in pop culture. Most famously, Hedwig from Harry Potter is one. And there were actually seven different owls that played Hedwig during the movies. In order to maintain their body temperature, they also try to expend as little energy as possible, so you won't see them flying around for long periods of time like you'd see with other birds.

[00:03:13] And this kind of brings us into how they hunt for their prey. Which we'll talk about right after the break.

[00:03:30] Today's science word of the day is inertia. Inertia is the tendency for objects in motion to stay in motion, and objects at rest to stay at rest. You can see it in your everyday life, like when your car stops short and you keep moving forward until your seatbelt stops you. Snowy owls are carnivores, so they exclusively eat other animals.

[00:04:04] And one animal that they feed on the most is lemmings, which are rodents that are closely related to voles. One snowy owl can eat around 1, 600 lemmings in a single year. They'll also eat rabbits, mice, and smaller birds. They like to take a sit back and wait approach with their food, using their keen eyesight.

[00:04:27] Some researchers say that they can spot a mouse from over 300 feet away. And if you look at their eyes, you'll notice that they're bright yellow. A fun fact about owls is that, for the most part, you can use their eye color to know what times of day they're active. Yellow eyes, like in snowy owls, usually mean that they're active during the day, or diurnal.

[00:04:51] Orange eyes indicate an owl species that is crepuscular, meaning active during dawn and dusk. And then black or brown eyed owls are nocturnal, or active at night. Sometimes, snowy owls don't even get a choice in the fact that they're diurnal, because in the Arctic, during certain times of the year, the sun doesn't set at all.

[00:05:13] So these owls will use their eyes to search for their prey, but they're limited to their surroundings. Tundra biomes don't usually have an abundance of trees, so they'll either stay on the ground or on a hill to scan the area. They're great lookouts, though, as they can turn their head 270 degrees. Humans can only turn our heads 90 degrees.

[00:05:36] One issue for snowy owls when searching for prey is that the prey can be hiding under the snow or could be really good at blending in. But not only do these birds have great eyesight, they also have great hearing. They're able to hear their prey moving around under the snow. And one of their ears is actually higher than the other one.

[00:05:59] This allows for snowy owls to be able to find out exactly where a sound is coming from. You may have heard this on our previous owl episode, but an amazing adaptation that they have is they can fly almost completely silently because of their extremely soft feathers. This makes it difficult for their prey to hear them coming.

[00:06:21] In order to catch their prey, they have long, sharp talons for grabbing. And like most other birds, they have to swallow their food whole. In order to do this, they have a very strong stomach acid that breaks down all of the important stuff. And then they'll regurgitate the parts of the animal that are not digestible, like bones and fur.

[00:06:43] You may have dissected one of these regurgitations in science class, an owl pellet. In the wild, snowy owls can live for around 9 years, and in captivity, if cared for properly, they can live for almost 30 years. And they exhibit sexual dimorphism, meaning that males and females look different from each other.

[00:07:05] By looking at their feathers, you'll usually see that females have more black markings, and males are more solid white. And females tend to be larger than males. Which is probably because they need to store more fat to have energy to produce eggs. And they also have to sit on the egg in freezing cold temperatures while the male looks for food to bring back.

[00:07:27] So the extra fat storage can help keep them warm. Snowy owls make their nests in the ground or on hills, and they don't reuse them year after year like some other birds do. Females lay between three to eleven eggs per year, usually between May and June. They'll lay more eggs when there is a higher food supply.

[00:07:51] What's interesting about their main source of food, lemmings, is that their populations are known to fluctuate drastically every three to four years. Lemmings are so important to snowy owls that they're even used by males in courtship displays. A male will hold a lemming in its mouth while flying around the female to grab her attention and interest her in mating.

[00:08:15] Eggs are incubated for about a month before the chick hatches. And chicks can start to hunt their own food after about five months. Also, there is a video going around the internet of a snowy owl carrying her chicks on her back. This is a fake video and snowy owls do not do this. Because lemmings are really abundant in the summer and not in the winter, snowy owls will migrate south during the winter months.

[00:08:43] They can travel hundreds of miles in just a few days, and they like to take time to rest in between their flight. They can sometimes stop for weeks before they continue their migration. There's a phenomenon in snowy owls called winter eruption, which is when a larger than expected amount of snowy owls migrate south during the winter.

[00:09:06] And we still don't really know why this happens. But some scientists believe that this is based off of the populations of lemmings, which seems to be a pattern. When there are more lemmings available during the summer months, this means more chicks survive and are healthy, so more owls migrate. Some snowy owls don't migrate at all.

[00:09:27] They'll stay where they are and rely on waterfowl as food for the winter. Okay, let's take our last break, and when we get back, we'll talk about some interesting snowy owl behaviors.

[00:09:51] Time for today's trivia question. Alligators are more closely related to which group of animals on this list? A. Sharks, B. Birds, C. Bears, or D. Dolphins?

[00:10:17] The answer is A. B, birds.

[00:10:26] Snowy owls mainly rely on auditory communication, and they're mostly vocal during the breeding season. Of course, the most famous noise that they make is the hoot, which can be heard from over six miles away. Hoot, hoot, hoot, hoot, hoot. Hoots are oftentimes used to attract mates. But they can make a variety of other sounds like hisses, clicks, and even barks.

[00:10:52] Some of these sounds are made if the owls feel threatened. And individuals can also be very territorial, and use vocalizations as warnings to others to stay away. They'll also snap their beaks as a warning. Snowy owls are very important animals in the ecosystems that they live in. They're considered apex predators because few other animals will eat them and they keep lemming populations in check.

[00:11:20] Like most apex predators, snowy owls are indicator species for us to help determine the health of an ecosystem. If there are few of them in an area where snowy owls are supposed to thrive, this could mean that there's something wrong. They also contribute to tourism in some areas because they're amazing to see in person.

[00:11:41] Unfortunately, their populations are decreasing, and they're listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. There are less than 30, 000 adults left in North America. And like a lot of Arctic animals, climate change has a large impact on them because of warmer than usual temperatures and melting sea ice. In the past, snowy owls were also hunted by humans more than any other owl species.

[00:12:08] Thankfully, it's now illegal to kill snowy owls without a special permit. But it's still important to help these animals and their habitats because their populations are declining. Some organizations like the Owl Research Institute NYC Bird Alliance and American Bird Conservancy are all working to save them right now and you should go check them out.

[00:12:31] Thank you so much for coming on this adventure with me as we explored the world of snowy owls. You can find the sources that we use for this podcast and links to organizations that we reference at onwildlife. org. You can also email us with any questions at onwildlife. podcast at gmail. com. And you can follow us on Instagram at on underscore wildlife or on TikTok at on wildlife.

[00:12:57] And don't forget to tune in next month for another awesome episode. And that's on wildlife.

[00:13:09] Jess Avellino: You've been listening to On Wildlife with Alex Re. On Wildlife provides general educational information on various topics as a public service, which should not be construed as professional, financial, real estate, tax, or legal advice. These are our personal opinions only. Please refer to our full disclaimer policy on our website for full details.