Camouflage

This is a special post for Mrs. Daniel's second grade class at St. Peters Elementary School, who are learning about animal camouflage, hibernation and migration.  

Here are two of the World Bird Sanctuary's resident owls, Ookpik and Tundra, our Snowy Owls.  However, since they usually live on the Arctic tundra they are only on display to the public during the cold months of the year here in Missouri.  In the summer they live in an air conditioned building elsewhere on our property.

This photo of Ookpik shows off his beautiful white plumage which, in the frozen arctic snow, would blend right in and make him nearly invisible.  Not only would this help make him invisible to predators, such as polar bears, but would also help to hide him from the lemmings (small rodents) which he hunts for his food.

In the photo of Tundra, our female Snowy 

Owl, you can see that she has more brown or tan areas in her feathers.  Since Snowy Owls nest on the ground, rather than in trees, this would help to camouflage her when she is sitting on her nest in May.  At that time of the year the snow may have melted in places, exposing the tundra for which she is named.  While she is sitting on her 5-14 eggs it would be the male's job to feed her.

Snowy Owls do not do what most people think of as migration--annual flights of extremely long distances triggered by day length or cold weather.  They are considered nomadic and travel according to the lemming population.  If the lemming population is very large, the owls might range within a fairly small area.  However, lemmings are subject to population "crashes".  In that instance the owls would travel a much greater distance in their search for food, at times appearing as far south as the northern U.S.

Here is a photo where I have placed Ookpik and Tundra's images in a snow scene.  Even though you can still see them, on a bright sunny day they would blend right in and be very difficult to see. Also, take a look at the gulls in the foreground and notice how well they blend into their surroundings.