The snowy owl is easily identified by its white plumage, round earless head and broad white wings.
Color ranges from pure white to white barred with varying amounts of brown to black.
The Snowy Owl Nyctea scandiaca breeds in remote areas of the Canadian Arctic. In winter it visits many parts of southern Canada, providing most Canadians with the opportunity to observe one of the most striking and distinctive of the world's 146 species of owls. Snowy Owl Few birds are as sensitive to the abundance or scarcity of one kind of prey during the breeding season as the snowy owl. An owl will take the occasional eider or ptarmigan, snow bunting or Lapland longspur, even fish such as char. Nests on the ground.