Ubaid KhalidSnowy owl nests on the Arctic tundra. The male snowy owl finds the territory while the females tend to choose the nesting site. Depending upon the availability of food, the eggs are usually laid between mid-May and early-June.
The eggs are elliptical-shaped and creamy-white to white in color with glossy appearance. They are laid at an interval of about 2 to 4 days while the incubation period is 32 to 33 days. These eggs are hatched out in the order in which they are laid.
Normally, the clutch size of the snowy owls is 3 to 11 eggs. However, when the food is scarce, this clutch size reduces to 3 to 5 eggs only.
Each egg measures around 5.7 centimeters in length and 4.5 centimeters in width. The nestling period is 18 to 25 days. The chicks are ready to fledge after 50 days. However, they leave their nest after 25 to 26 days from hatching out. As the chicks leave the nest, the parents still give them food for another 5 weeks.
Sources:
Holt, Denver W., Matt D. Larson, Norman Smith, Dave L. Evans and David F. Parmalee. 2015. Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus), version 2.0. In The Birds of North America (P. G. Rodewald, editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, USA.
“Snowy Owl”. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology: All About Birds – Cornell University
“Snowy Owl”. Defenders of Wildlife
