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Snowy owl

Bubo scandiacus · Raptors

Snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus): About 61 cm, bulky and round-headed with yellow eyes; wingspan about 1.4 m. White with variable black barring: young females heavily marked, old males almost pure white. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Snowy owl in flight against a blue sky
Photo by James Bekkers on Unsplash
Scientific name
Bubo scandiacus
Family
Strigidae
In North America
Native
Range
Breeds on Arctic tundra from Alaska and northern Canada to Labrador; many winter on the northern Great Plains and Prairies, with irregular southward irruptions.
Biology

How to identify it

About 61 cm, bulky and round-headed with yellow eyes; wingspan about 1.4 m. [1][2][3]

White with variable black barring: young females heavily marked, old males almost pure white. [1][2][3]

Legs and feet heavily feathered. [1][2][3]

Compared with the american barn owl: Other white owls seen in most of North America are usually barn owls or downy young of other owls. [1][2][3]

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a snowy owl before you act. Compared with the american barn owl: Other white owls seen in most of North America are usually barn owls or downy young of other owls.[1][2][3]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Open tundra; in winter prairies, fields, marshes, beaches, dunes and large airports. [1][2][3]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Often hunts by day from a perch, watching for prey, then pursuing it in swift flight [1][2][3]

Eats lemmings and voles where available, plus hares, rabbits, ground squirrels and birds [1][2][3]

Nomadic; the number moving south each winter varies with prey populations [1][2][3]

Usually silent; hoarse croak and shrill whistle on breeding grounds; males hoot to defend territory [1][2][3]

Regulatory handoff

Take status not established

North Ground has not established meaningful legal take of this species. That is a gap in the evidence, not a finding that it is protected or that it is open.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Breeds on Arctic tundra from Alaska and northern Canada to Labrador; many winter on the northern Great Plains and Prairies, with irregular southward irruptions.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. National Audubon Society · reviewed 2026-09-30

    National Audubon Society

  2. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  3. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology · reviewed 2026-09-30

    University of Michigan Museum of Zoology