Snowy Owl Resting Among Gray Riprap Stones

A snowy owl sits on a bank of angular gray stones, turned mostly away from the camera with its head angled to one side. Its white plumage is flecked with fine darker barring across the back and wings, and the tail feathers hang down over the rock below. The pale bird stands out against the cool, muted gray of the rubble. A strip of green grass fills the top of the frame and adds the only strong colour. The light is flat and overcast, and the mood is quiet and still.

Snowy owls (Bubo scandiacus) breed on the Arctic tundra and move south in winter, sometimes reaching the northern United States. They often choose open, treeless places such as fields, shorelines and stony banks, which resemble the tundra. Unlike many owls, they hunt largely by day, and they take lemmings, voles and waterbirds. This one was recorded in Delaware County, Ohio, in November 2020. The wide landscape format and the soft, low-contrast palette suit a desktop monitor, where the owl can sit off-centre and leave room for icons on the grass at the top.

More like this: Snowy Owl on a Misty Dune Crest.