Feeding Ecology of Snowy Owls (Nyctea scandiaca) Wintering in Southern Alberta
Food habits, habitat selection, and hunting behavior of snowy owls (Nyctea scandiaca) wintering near Calgary, Alberta were investigated during the winters of 1976-77 and 1977-78. The owls preyed extensively upon rodents. Gray partridge (Perdix perdix) were an important prey only in one winter. Dieta...
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The Arctic Institute of North America
1982
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ftunivcalgaryojs:oai:journalhosting.ucalgary.ca:article/65378 2023-05-15T14:19:16+02:00 Feeding Ecology of Snowy Owls (Nyctea scandiaca) Wintering in Southern Alberta Boxall, Peter C. Lein, M. Ross 1982-01-01 application/pdf https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65378 eng eng The Arctic Institute of North America https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65378/49292 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65378 ARCTIC; Vol. 35 No. 2 (1982): June: 241–347; 282-290 1923-1245 0004-0843 Animal behaviour Animal food Predation Snowy Owls Wildlife habitat Alberta info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion research-article 1982 ftunivcalgaryojs 2022-03-22T21:22:31Z Food habits, habitat selection, and hunting behavior of snowy owls (Nyctea scandiaca) wintering near Calgary, Alberta were investigated during the winters of 1976-77 and 1977-78. The owls preyed extensively upon rodents. Gray partridge (Perdix perdix) were an important prey only in one winter. Dietary differences between years seem to be related to differences in weather. Male snowy owls preyed almost exclusively upon mice, whereas females utilized a wider range of prey, including much larger species. The owls appeared to respond to variation in habitat quality by selecting those habitats with the highest availability of prey. Snowy owls were successful in 43% of 51 attempts to capture prey. The success rate of attempts to capture birds was lower than for small mammals. Juvenile females had lower success rates and longer prey-handling times than did adult females.Key words: snowy owl, Nyctea scandiaca, food habits, winter ecology, Alberta Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Nyctea scandiaca snowy owl University of Calgary Journal Hosting ARCTIC 35 2 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of Calgary Journal Hosting |
op_collection_id |
ftunivcalgaryojs |
language |
English |
topic |
Animal behaviour Animal food Predation Snowy Owls Wildlife habitat Alberta |
spellingShingle |
Animal behaviour Animal food Predation Snowy Owls Wildlife habitat Alberta Boxall, Peter C. Lein, M. Ross Feeding Ecology of Snowy Owls (Nyctea scandiaca) Wintering in Southern Alberta |
topic_facet |
Animal behaviour Animal food Predation Snowy Owls Wildlife habitat Alberta |
description |
Food habits, habitat selection, and hunting behavior of snowy owls (Nyctea scandiaca) wintering near Calgary, Alberta were investigated during the winters of 1976-77 and 1977-78. The owls preyed extensively upon rodents. Gray partridge (Perdix perdix) were an important prey only in one winter. Dietary differences between years seem to be related to differences in weather. Male snowy owls preyed almost exclusively upon mice, whereas females utilized a wider range of prey, including much larger species. The owls appeared to respond to variation in habitat quality by selecting those habitats with the highest availability of prey. Snowy owls were successful in 43% of 51 attempts to capture prey. The success rate of attempts to capture birds was lower than for small mammals. Juvenile females had lower success rates and longer prey-handling times than did adult females.Key words: snowy owl, Nyctea scandiaca, food habits, winter ecology, Alberta |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Boxall, Peter C. Lein, M. Ross |
author_facet |
Boxall, Peter C. Lein, M. Ross |
author_sort |
Boxall, Peter C. |
title |
Feeding Ecology of Snowy Owls (Nyctea scandiaca) Wintering in Southern Alberta |
title_short |
Feeding Ecology of Snowy Owls (Nyctea scandiaca) Wintering in Southern Alberta |
title_full |
Feeding Ecology of Snowy Owls (Nyctea scandiaca) Wintering in Southern Alberta |
title_fullStr |
Feeding Ecology of Snowy Owls (Nyctea scandiaca) Wintering in Southern Alberta |
title_full_unstemmed |
Feeding Ecology of Snowy Owls (Nyctea scandiaca) Wintering in Southern Alberta |
title_sort |
feeding ecology of snowy owls (nyctea scandiaca) wintering in southern alberta |
publisher |
The Arctic Institute of North America |
publishDate |
1982 |
url |
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65378 |
genre |
Arctic Nyctea scandiaca snowy owl |
genre_facet |
Arctic Nyctea scandiaca snowy owl |
op_source |
ARCTIC; Vol. 35 No. 2 (1982): June: 241–347; 282-290 1923-1245 0004-0843 |
op_relation |
https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65378/49292 https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/65378 |
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ARCTIC |
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