November 20

Good Morning

Yesterday I was heading out to visit my sister in Leduc and decided to take the snow covered back roads as the main roads were slippery and full of cars. After spotting a large flock of Snow Buntings and a few flocks of Pine Grosbeaks, I was surprised to come across a Snowy Owl.

I called my sister to tell her I would be late and watched the owl for about a half hour before it flew off. I checked on the way home but it had moved on.

Male and female snowy owls have different coloring. A fully mature snowy owl is almost completely white. A fully mature female Snowy Owl has black barring on its body, wings and tails.

Owls such as the one here can cause confusion. Immature male Snowy Owl share very similar barring with the mature females. If you look closely, you can see that is one has white bib on its chest. That feature combined with the observation that it had only three bars on its tail (seen when it was flying), provide the clues that it is an immature male. (Females typically have 3 to 6 bars on their tails.)

Stay well