Ardith and all, I can't claim any special knowledge here, but David Sibley mentions the following in his description of snowy owl in his North American Birds field guide:
"More active at night, hunting small rodents and birds. Individuals seen far to the south of normal range are often starved and stressed for food, and thus active in daylight. Healthy birds are mainly nocturnal, like other owls." Thanks, Tim Dunn Babylon NY Sent from my iPhone > On Dec 3, 2013, at 11:01 AM, Ardith Bondi <ard...@earthlink.net> wrote: > > A number of guides I have read indicate that Snowy Owls are primarily diurnal > hunters. > > My experience watching Snowy Owls in the New York/New Jersey area over the > years has been that they prefer to mostly snooze during the day and stretch, > preen and fly out at dusk, not dissimilarly to many other owls. I understand > that they will hunt more during the day if really hungry. But, is it possible > that they developed a reputation for being diurnal hunters because they live > in the arctic and have to hunt during long summer hours of daylight. And, > given the option, they will do what most other owls are known to do? > > Ardith Bondi > NYC > > > -- > > NYSbirds-L List Info: > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES > http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm > > ARCHIVES: > 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html > 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L > 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ > > -- -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
