Photo: Snowy Owls, Grant Eldridge/Audubon Photography Awards
If you mention the Snowy Owl, many D.C. area residents will think immediately of Hedwig, Harry Potter’s companion owl. Birders, of course, will think about winters when they have been lucky enough to see a Snowy Owl visiting our area, at Reagan National Airport, or D.C. locations like the National Mall, McPherson Square or Union Station. As of this writing, e-Bird shows 2024 Snowy Owl sightings only in far western Virginia and on the eastern shore of Maryland, but we may yet get a visitor or two.
Snowy Owl at Union Station, Matt Felperin
Although the Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) is no longer classified as in a separate genus (Nyctea) from typical owls, like the Great Horned Owl, there’s a lot about it that is unique. It has striking white plumage, all white in males and with brown barring in females. It is one of the few bird species that can survive Arctic winters. It is a circumpolar species, breeding all across the far northern hemisphere and nesting on Arctic tundra. It has the greatest body weight of North American owls, a feature which helps it to survive in the cold.
The primary food source to support Snowy Owl breeding is lemmings, but during other times they will eat a variety of prey. Lemmings are small, each weighing around two to three ounces, but Snowy Owls are large and powerful and are known to prey on larger animals, including snowshoe hares, ptarmigan, and common eiders. In winter they may range widely, hunting in both coastal and inland areas. Outside of their breeding range they are most commonly seen in fields and meadows, including during the day, because they are diurnal hunters.
Birders in the lower 48 states may see Snowy Owls in winter in the northern-most states, but sometimes the birds will range more widely, including into the D.C. area. In a big breeding year, when the lemming population is booming and the breeding adults raise a large number of young, birds will move south in large numbers. At one time it was thought that the Snowy Owls, like Boreal Owls and Great Gray Owls, moved south when prey sources were depleted, but current research suggests the opposite, that it is prey abundance that causes the irruption. In the winter of 2011/2012, Snowy Owls appeared in all Canadian provinces and 31 states.
The 2022 State of the Birds Report identifies Snowy Owl as a species that has lost half of its population in the past 50 years. Partners in Flight includes the Snowy Owl on its Yellow Watch List of species facing moderate to high threats. One of the biggest threats may be climate change, which could lead to loss of breeding habitat and a decline in prey. When migrating outside of their breeding areas, they face threats from collisions with vehicles, communication towers, wind turbines and airplanes. In an urban area like D.C., even though they typically eat live prey instead of carrion, they can ingest poison in rodents that have been poisoned but have not yet died.
The primary focus of conservation efforts to protect Snowy Owls is combatting climate change, reducing carbon emissions wherever possible, and offsetting what we cannot eliminate by maintaining healthy forests, supporting sustainable agricultural practices, and more. In addition to taking action on energy use in the home and advocating for healthy practices in northern Virginia communities, you can help the Snowy Owl by signing National Audubon’s petition urging action on climate change.