This is a spectacular photograph of a fabulous bird! Both draw our attention: birders and nonbirders, photographers and nonphotographers alike. The Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) is a Wonder of Nature. Its habitat includes the Arctic region of North America, where it feeds off the tundra. Its high rate of metabolism—maintaining a body temperature of 102 to 109 degrees F—requires a diet rich in nutrients, provided primarily by Arctic lemmings.
The photograph shows another way the Snowy Owl survives temperatures north of the Arctic Circle. Its plumage includes dense down along with the pin feathers needed to fly. Soft, downy feathers, shown fluffed up in the photograph, hold body heat in and keep the cold out. Its down plumage extends to its feathered legs and feet, not visible in the photo. It’s wearing, in sum, a full-length downy overcoat that is as effective as one from Lands’ End or L. L. Bean.
The result is a creature of arresting beauty. It has piercing, orange eyes. How cool is that!
Snowy Owls are the heaviest of the North American owls, males weighing 4 lbs. on average and females as much as 6 1/2 lbs. Females are larger; males are whiter. “Snowies” migrate in winter to southern Canada and the northern U.S., and some reach our Carolina coast. If the lemming population was large during the Arctic summer, they might “irrupt,” surprisingly, as far south as Florida.
This featured photograph was taken by Ed Boos, a local nature photographer, Laurel waterfall maven, and Audubon member. Ed photographed this particular bird at Little Talbot Island State Park in Florida in January of 2014. At that time, this was only the third Snowy Owl seen in Florida’s recorded birding history. Hearing that the bird, identified as a female, was seen in this state park, Ed and Cindy traveled 250 miles on the chance of seeing it. The first day of searching was windy, cloudy, cold, and unsuccessful. Undaunted, the second day of searching found the bird in the sand dunes, and the photographic result is the image we now see.
This photograph was featured in the January 2016 issue of Birds & Blooms magazine and won a Grand Champion Blue Ribbon at the Macon County Fair in 2025.
Thank you, Ed and Cindy Boos, for sharing this stunning photograph with our Laurel readership.
The mission of the Highlands Plateau Audubon Society is to provide opportunities to enjoy and learn about birds and other wildlife and to promote conservation and restoration of the habitats that support them. Find us at highlandsaudubonsociety.org.
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