Many birds come to the Arctic in the summer to live and breed but not all of them live here year round. Ptarmigan, snow bunting, and snowy owls are some of the Arctic birds that live here year round. Snowy owls live on the tundra.
They stay in the Arctic during the winter unless their food sources are scarce. If they leave the arctic in the winter they overwinter in northern Greenland, the Canadian islands, northern Eurasia, Wrangel Island as well as North America.
They are called snowy owls because their coloring is almost pure white when they are full grown. The feet of snowy owls are covered with feathers and have extra thick pads.
Snowy owls have incredible vision. They can see from high up in the sky and swoop down silently to capture their prey. Like all owls they have good night vision. They are nocturnal and diurnal hunt at night but in the Arctic it doesn't get dark in the summer so the owls hunt in the daylight too. When the owl gets food it swallows it whole or tears it into large pieces to swallow.
The mother stays on the nest and the father brings her food and protects her. After the owlets are born both parents work to feed the owlets. In eight weeks the owlets are ready to leave the nest. This is important because the summers are so short in Arctic regions. If the owlets weren't ready to take care of themselves they would not survive the cold winter.
This avatar included a AO and a Owl sound when you touch his head
