English: Snowy Owl, Snow Owl
Russian: Белая сова
Mongolian: Цагаан уульж, Цэвдгийн ууль
German: Schnee-Eule
French: Harfang des neiges
Japanese: シロフクロウ (Shiro-fukuro)

Body length: 53-65 cm
Wing span: 125-150 cm

Breeds on tundra or high plateaux above tree-limit, preferring areas with scattered rocks and good view. Apparently nomadic, fluctuating with food supply. One pair bred in 1960s-70s in Shetland; otherwise irregular and extremely rare winter vagrant in Britain. Food mainly lemmings and other voles, also birds and rabbits. Nest scrape on ground, in lemming-years with large clutches and lined with store of dead prey.

Identification: Large, strikingly white in most plumages. Eyes yellow. Flight powerful, and wings have proportionately shorter ‘arm’ and more pointed ‘hand’ than other large owls. Adult ♂: Pure white (except for a few scattered tiny dark spots). Adult ♀: White, with dark spots on crown, dark cross-barring below (except white centre of breast), and dark ‘scalloping’ on back and shoulders; flight-feathers and wing-coverts coarsely barred dark on white ground. 1st winter ♂: Very similar to adult ♀ but slightly smaller; plumage rather off-white when fresh; upperparts more distinctly cross-barred, on average slightly finer barring below; tips of tertails, inner greater coverts, and flight-feathers diffusely vermiculated grey. Bleached to predominantly white in 1st summer. 1st year ♀: Like adult ♀, but dark spots and bars heavier and denser, at distance creating strong contrast of white face and neck, and almost uniform dark body and crown; also, more dark barring on crown and breast.