In delving into some old journal papers recently about snowy owls, they seem
to be rather versatile and catholic in their activity schedule and prey
selection, and can forage either day or night depending on the situation and
what's available to them in both birds or mammals. They're best known
perhaps preying on lemmings and voles diurnally, but it's obvious in the
literature that they have also been rather widely observed foraging at night
and feeding upon various kinds of shorebirds, ducks, alcids, cormorants, and
gulls. Bob Boekelheide reported to me recently that he observed a snowy owl
on Ediz Hook (outer part of Port Angeles harbor) feeding on a small duck
like a bufflehead. So they've obviously quite adaptable and it isn't very
useful to characterize their activity and food habits too narrowly.

Bruce Moorhead
Port Angeles, WA
bruceb at olypen.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Stewart Wechsler" <ecostewart at quidnunc.net>
To: "tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Monday, December 12, 2005 1:19 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Snowy Owls activity time? + my winter nature programs


>A question about Snowy Owl activity times: Are Snowy Owls strictly
>diurnal?
> or are they more crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk) or are they more
> biurnal/ambiurnal/omniurnal - i.e. active day and night like a house cat
> is
> and presumably resting anytime also? I know that in the high arctic they
> don't always have any night to be active in during the summer breeding
> season which would imply that they're well adapted to activity during the
> day.
>
> WINTER NATURE PROGRAMS: If anyone is interested in my winter nature
> programs
> they are now on line and include several owl hunts for all-age groups. I
> will e-mail a list of just the programs that I am leading on request.
> See instructions and links below for the complete list of Camp Long and
> Seward Park Winter 2006 programs.
>
> Stewart Wechsler
> Ecological Consulting
> West Seattle
> 206 932-7225
> ecostewart at quidnunc.net
>
> Complete listing of Camp Long and Seward Park Winter nature programs
> now on line:
>
> for Camp Long programs:
> http://www.cityofseattle.net/parks/Environment/camplong.htm
> In the "our brochure" box on the right click on Winter Brochure Online
>
> for Seward Park programs:
> http://www.cityofseattle.net/parks/parkspaces/sewardpark.htmSeward
> in the "Events and Activities" box click Winter Brochure Online
>
> --
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>