This owl is not as white as it should be because it is covered in soot. It was found in a chimney at the Toledo Hospital. It apparently fell into the chimney while setting on the top. Luckily that boiler was shut down at the time.

• The Snowy Owl is a large diurnal ( hunt during the day ) bird of prey that lives in the cold arctic. They prefer the Arctic tundra, open grasslands, and fields and rarely venture into wooded areas.Its head is rounded with yellow eyes and a black beak. Similar to the Barn Owl the Snowy Owl has disks of stiff feathers around its eyes that reflect sound waves to its ear openings.

• During the summer months Snowy Owls are brownish with dark spots and stripes.  In winter, they are mostly white with barred or speckled thin, black, horizontal bars. In summer, they blend in to the tundra colors and look like shadows. In winter, their white plumage provides camouflage in the Arctic snow. The Adult males are almost pure white.

• Because they live in arctic climates, they have adapted to hunt during 24-hour periods of daylight. Prey are captured on the ground, in the air, or snatched off the surface of the water. They feed primarily on lemmings, but may also eat mice, rabbits, muskrats, squirrels, prairie dogs, rats, moles, ducks, geese, shorebirds, songbirds, Pheasants, Seagulls, and Short-eared Owls as well as fish and carrion.

• In years when food is plentiful, the snowy owl reproduces but in years when food is scarce nesting does not take place and the birds move south. During these times mass movements of Snowy Owls occur into southern Canada and northern United States. In extreme years of food shortage small numbers may reach as far south as the Gulf States.

• Snowy Owls can live 10 years in the wild and up to 35 years in captivity.

• They can grow to 23 inches tall with a wingspan of up to 52 inches.

• Natural enemies are few but include the Arctic foxes and wolves.