Snowy Owl at Sam Smith Park

[aviator]

Ah lunch!

[Paul O'Toole]

Looks quite the fresh feed.

[Ally]

How do we tell whether this is a gentleman or a lady? I guess not according to table manners...

[thouc]

This one is probably an immature bird (of unknown gender) as the barring is pretty heavy. Adult males have the least barring, some of them are pure white, while adult females are in between.

By the way, I saw one at Lakefront Park in Mississauga today so there are quite a few around this year. They like marinas.

[aviator]

Most of the raptors I'm seeing these days, Coopers, Goshawk and now Snowy owl are all immature. Don't know if that makes a pattern. This Owl seemed to protect the food or prevent it being blown away but I haven't seen that pose before.

[Ally]

This one is probably an immature bird (of unknown gender) as the barring is pretty heavy. Adult males have the least barring, some of them are pure white, while adult females are in between.

By the way, I saw one at Lakefront Park in Mississauga today so there are quite a few around this year. They like marinas.

Thanks a lot for your explanation!