BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Bubo scandiacus
Snowy Owl
| Scientific Name: | Bubo scandiacus (Linnaeus, 1758) | ||||||||||
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| Scientific Name Synonyms: |
Nyctea scandiaca
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| English Name: | Snowy Owl | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/. | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Taxonomy Comments: | Changed to Bubo scandiacus from Nyctea scandiaca to align with NatureServe (Feb 21, 2005 DDW). | ||||||||||
| Species Group: | Vertebrate Animal | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | B-SNOW | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G4 (Oct 2020) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | SUN (Mar 2022) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Unknown | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | Not at Risk (May 1995) | ||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | |||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 4 - Secure (2005) | ||||||||||
| Migratory Bird Convention Act: | |||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | |||||||||||
| Global Reproduction Comments: | Eggs laying begins early to mid-May. Clutch size (usually 5-7) increases with prey abundance; sometimes >10. Incubation lasts 27-38 days, by female (male provides food). Young are tended by both parent, leave nest at 2-4 weeks, fly well by about 7 weeks, fed by parents after fledging. High mortality of young occurs when lemming abundance is low. | ||||||||||
| Global Ecology Comments: | Breeding territory usually about 10 square km or less; may be less than 1 sq km in areas of high lemming density. Females may defend territories of 150-450 ha in winter (Johnsgard 1988). Local populations may vary ten-fold depending on lemming abundance. | ||||||||||
| Migration Characteristics: (Global / Provincial) | |||||||||||
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Nonmigrant: Local Migrant: Distant Migrant: Within Borders Migrant: |
Y / Y / Y / na / |
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| Global Migration Comments: | Disperses from nesting areas after breeding; moves to areas where food availability permits overwintering. Regular migrant in northern Great Plains of United States and the Prairies of Canada. Some birds fly north in winter to open leads (polynyas) in Arctic seas, where they hunt seabirds. Others make large east-west movements, apparently in search of winter food in the north (Holt et al. 2020). Irruptive southward migrations in western and eastern North America are made up primarily of first-year birds (Holt et al. 2020), and are likely a consequence of good reproductive season in the north that results in a large population of migrants (Santonja et al. 2018). Arrives in northern Great Plains early November through late December or early January, departs late February and early March (some remain until late March) (Kerlinger and Lein 1988). | ||||||||||
| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
Agriculture / Cultivated Field / Unknown
Agriculture / Hedgerow / Unknown Agriculture / Pasture/Old Field / Unknown Grassland/Shrub / Grassland / Unknown Grassland/Shrub / Meadow / Unknown Ocean / Intertidal Marine / Unknown Other Unique Habitats / Beach / Unknown |
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| Global Habitat Comments: |
Tundra, primarily where mounds, hillocks or rocks are present; in winter and migration occurring also in open country such as prairie, marshes, fields, pastures and sand dunes (AOU 1983), as well as tidal shores and open leads in sea ice (Holt et al. 2020). Nests on the ground in open tundra, usually on a slightly raised site (Harrison 1978). Nests in a scraped out area. |
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| Food Habits: |
Carnivore: Adult, Immature
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| Global Food Habits Comments: | Diet predominantly lemmings and voles; important alternate prey includes other rodents, hares, birds (e.g., seabirds, sea ducks and other waterfowl, ptarmigan; Holt et al. 2020). | ||||||||||
| Global Phenology: |
Diurnal: Adult, Immature
Nocturnal: Adult, Immature |
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| Global Phenology Comments: | During the arctic summer may hunt during the day and at 'night' (National Geographic Society 1983). | ||||||||||
| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Colonial Breeder: | N | ||||||||||
| Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): | 58/ / 1963 | ||||||||||
| Elevation (m) (min / max): |
Global:
Provincial: |
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| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | Holarctic. Breeding range includes arctic tundras of the world. In Eurasia: northern Greenland, northern Scandinavia, and northern Russia; rarely to the British Isles and Iceland (Mikkola 1983, Cramp 1985, Potapov and Sale 2013, Holt et al. 2020). In North America: in the western Aleutians, Hall Island (Bering Sea), and from northern Alaska and Canadian Arctic Islands north to Ellesmere Island, south to coastal western Alaska, northern Yukon, northern mainland of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, northeastern Manitoba, northern Quebec and northern Labrador (summarized in Holt et al. 2020). When food is available, winters on breeding grounds as far north as 82N, or even moves out onto sea ice to hunt along open leads (Holt et al. 2020). Many individuals winter regularly in north-central North America, as far south as the northern Great Plains (Holt et al. 2020). Irregular winter irruptions move south, occasionally as far south as California, Louisiana, and South Carolina. In Eurasia, irruptions can occur as far south as Iceland, British Isles, northern continental Europe, central Russia, northern China, and Sakhalin (Cramp 1985, summarized in Holt et al. 2020). Estimated global extent of occurrence is 1,000,000-10,000,000 square kilometers (BirdLife International 2005). |
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| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | Hammerson, G. (1995); updated by S. Cannings | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Oct 26, 2020 | ||||||||||
| Provincial Information Author: | |||||||||||
| Last Updated: | |||||||||||
| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp. |
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Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, et al. 1990b. The Birds of British Columbia Vol. 2: Nonpasserines: Diurnal Birds of Prey through Woodpeckers. Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, BC. |
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Clark, R. J., D. G. Smith, and L. H. Kelso. 1978. Working bibliography of owls of the world. National Wildlife Federation, Sci. & Tech. Ser. No. 1. 336 pp. |
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Fisher, A.K. 1893. The hawks and owls of the United States in their relation to agriculture. Washington U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Bull. no. 6. 210 pp. |
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Godfrey, W.E. 1966. The birds of Canada. National Museums of Canada. Ottawa. 428 pp. |
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Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio. |
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Holt, D.W., M.D. Larson, N. Smith, E.L. Evans, and D.F. Parmelee. 2020. Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus), version 1.0, In Birds of the World (S.M. Billerman, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https:://doi.org/10.2173/bow.snoowl1.01 |
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Johnsgard, P. 1988. North American owls: biology and natural history. Smithsonian Inst. Press. 336 pp. |
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Johnson, S. R. and D. R. Herter. 1989. The Birds of the Beaufort Sea. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., Anchorage, Alaska. 372 pp. |
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Kerlinger, P., and M. R. Lein. 1988. Population ecology of snowy owls during winter on the Great Plains of North America. Condor 90:866-874. |
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Kerlinger, P., M. R. Lein, and B. J. Serick. 1985. Distribution and population fluctuations of wintering snowy owls (Nyctea scandiaca) in North America. Can. J. Zool. 63:1829-1834. |
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Kirk, D. A., D. Hussell, and E. Dunn. 1995. Raptor population status and trends in Canada. Bird Trends (Canadian Wildlife Service) 4:2-9. |
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National Geographic Society (NGS). 1983. Field guide to the birds of North America. National Geographic Society, Washington, DC. |
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Nicholls, T. H., and M. R. Fuller. 1987. Owl telemetry techniques. Pages 294-301 IN R.W. Nero, R.J. Clark, R.J. Knapton, and R.H. Hamre, editors. Biology and conservation of northern forest owls. USDA Forest Service, Gen. Tech. Rep. RM-142. |
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Pendleton, B. A. G., B. A. Millsap, K. W. Cline, and D. M. Bird. 1987. Raptor management techniques manual. National Wildlife Federation, Sci. and Tech. Ser. No. 10. 420 pp. |
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Santonja, P., I. Mestre, S. Weidensaul, D. Brinker, S. Huy, N. Smith, T. Mcdonald, M. Blom, D. Zazelenchuck, D. Weber, G. Gauthier, N. Lecomte, and J-F. Therrien. 2018. Age composition of winter irruptive Snowy Owls in North America. Ibis 161:211-215. https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.12647 |
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Smith, D.G. 1987b. Owl census techniques. Pages 304-307 in R.W. Nero, R.J. Clark, R.J. Knapton, and R.H. Hamre, editors. Biology and conservation of northern forest owls. USDA Forest Service, Gen. Tech. Rep. RM-142. |
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Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. |
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Voous, K. H., and A. Cameron. 1989. Owls of the Northern Hemisphere. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 320 pp. |
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Walker, L.W. 1974. The book of owls. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. New York. 255 pp. |
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Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 2020. Species Summary: Bubo scandiacus. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Feb 1, 2026).