Snowy Owl Hunting Habits

[Michael T]

Hey Gang,

Please remember that these birds are highly diurnal,so they hunt mostly during the day from dawn to dusk. Searching for them at night might cause them to flush from resting and make them more susceptible to harassment from the local Great Horned owls which are pretty cranky right now since they are enforcing their territorial rights in preparation for the upcoming nesting season.

Just my two cents

Michael Tincher
Fort Collins

[Paul Hurtado]

Hi all,

I just wanted to clarify that while these birds are highly diurnal on their breeding grounds (the far north, where the days are long), many if not all recent studies of wintering birds in the lower 48 show these birds are most active and hunting at night (some over open water, hunting gulls and ducks). 

This should NOT encourage us to go looking for them at night. Instead it highlights the importance of keeping a healthy distance from them (and keeping noise and talking to a minimum) so they can get some rest.

The current location of the Standley Lake bird is fortunately about 200-250yds from a roadside fence, so it's tolerating all the activity (mostly from noisey dog walkers across the street) reasonably well. 

Good birding,

Paul Hurtado

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