Scientific name:
Nyctea Scandiaca

Natural spread:
Northern Europe, North-Asia, North America

as single type of the owls adapted itself at the hard life-conditions of the Arctic the snow-owl. The tundras, bogs and islands of the polar-areas of Eurasia and North America are the home of this magnificent owl. it is through its size (until 66 cm) and this with the male almost completely whitens, with the usually bigger female more strongly gloomily speckled plumages distinctive.

Brood The female alone builds the nest, one of flat from-scratched hollow at a small rise in the otherwise usually even landscape and anxiously also the brooding alone. The egg-number of the nests - according to food-offer - is very variable; in hard times, it is 2-3, usually 4-10 and rarely until 15 eggs. In hunger-years, snow-owls don't proceed at all to the brood. During the 32-37 brood-days, the male looks after its brooding partner; also in the first days after slipping of the boys, it carries the loot farther alone along, since constantly hudert the female the weißbedunten nest-stools. The boys change its white one against a gray one after 6-10 days in 2. Dunenkleid, later a black-and-white youth-dress one; in the age of 8-9 weeks, they can fly well, geatzt still become from its parents, however.

Food While the short arctic summer without darkness-phases, snow-owls live mainly on Lemmingen and other small Nagern. Lemminge multiply explosion-like in distances of 4-5 years regularly so that also the number of the descendants varies with the owls regularly. In the winter-months after such Schlemmerzeiten, many squabs must avoid far southward in order to find sufficiently feed. they frequently then appear also in Central Europe, the USA and Japan. Beside the Kleinnagern, snow-owls carry off also snow-hares and birds of considerable size (Z), however. B. Ducks.