Page 19 - North Haven Magazine Issue 32 Winter 2024

Snowy owl, yellow eyes and feathered feet. White-tailed ptarmigan with snow white feathers.

Hares respond to danger differently than rabbits. Rabbits tend to months to learn survival skills. Like snowy owls, ptarmigans have
hunker down and freeze, hoping to not be noticed by predators. feathered legs and feet to provide extra warmth.
Hares rely on their strong hind legs and big feet to run from danger
at the first sign. Hares are born completely furred, eyes open, and The changing plumage from winter white to summer brown helps
ready to run. Rabbits are born with no fur, blind, and totally depen- ptarmigans hide from coyotes, wolves, foxes, bobcats, and other
dent on their mother. predators. During the snowy winter, these birds sleep in snowbanks.
They fly into the snowbank, leaving no trail for predators to follow.
Snowy Owls are a special treat to see. Males are whiter while the
females are white with more brown/gray spots so they blend with More than twenty species of mammals and birds use snow camou-
the tundra. Both have bright yellow eyes and feathers on their feet flage to protect themselves from predators and/or to manage more
for added warmth. Though they breed in the artic tundra, it is pos- successfully when hunting in snow. You might be wondering how
sible to see them near the shores of lakes and Long Island Sound they change their colors. As the daylight hours shorten, or lengthen,
in Connecticut during the winter. Depending on the availability of hormonal signals trigger the change in fur and feathers.
lemmings in the tundra, the owls will come south if they need more
food. This invasion of birds from the north is called an irruption and
seems to occur about every four years. In recent years, irruptions
have become more frequent for unknown reasons.
Snowy owls feed on small mammals, with lemmings at the top of
their list. They will also eat birds, hares, seabirds, and even geese. The
male hunts and brings food to the female while she incubates the
eggs and tends to the young. With a wingspan of 4-5 feet, these owls
have swift, silent flight so they can capture their prey by approaching
quietly from the rear. Because of the long hours of sunlight in the
arctic, snowy owls hunt during daylight.
The snowy white feathers are used in two different ways by these
owls. They can be well camouflaged in the snowy habitat to help
make their hunts successful and protect them from predators. The
white feathers are also used to reflect the sunlight, creating a strik-
ingly bright warning signal to alert rivals and protect their territory.
The whitest plumage is on their face, throat, and breast, so the owls
orient themselves to the sun, changing positions as the sun moves
across the sky. Because the snowy owls look directly into the sun, and
the glare off the frozen ground, they have special eyelashes of long
bristles and other feathers to reduce the glare.
Ptarmigans are another bird that uses snow camouflage. There
are three species in Alaska, willow ptarmigan, rock ptarmigan, and
white-tailed ptarmigan, and all three molt their darker feathers in
the fall to become white birds for winter survival in the tundra and
mountains. The willow ptarmigan is the state bird of Alaska, chosen
due to its smart use of camouflage. Both sexes transform from a red-
dish-brown or brown mottling in the summer to snowy white with
a few black tail feathers in the winter. There are periods during the
molt that the ptarmigans display quite a mixture of white and shades
of brown.
Ptarmigans are very similar to chickens, living in flocks and consum-
ing berries, vegetation, and insects. The females lay 6-10 eggs and the
chicks are fully developed upon hatching. They can leave the nest the
next day, but they need intense guidance and care for five to seven

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