Status
Vulnerable
Habitat
Open tundra
Range
Arctic · North America · Europe
Group
Birds
A predator that hunts by hearing snow move.
Unlike most owls, snowy owls hunt in daylight, because in an Arctic summer there is no alternative. Their breeding success tracks lemming cycles so tightly that in poor years they simply do not nest at all.
The leading edge of the flight feather is fringed, breaking the airflow into micro-turbulence and erasing the sound of the wingbeat. Prey does not hear the arrival.
Frames in the archive
Full gallery
Pale Hunter
1/30 sec — the snow does the work.
Where we photograph it
The open shelf
More frames of the snowy owl
Streamed live from the Commons Quality Images archive, fifteen at a time. For viewing here — each frame remains its photographer’s.
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Developing the next fifteen…
