Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus)

Otherworldly beautiful large owl. White with avariable amount of black/brown markings; old males are the whitest, while immature females have the densest dark patterning. Breeds on the Arctic tundra and winters in northern Eurasia and North America, where it favors expansive open habitats. Often encountered on lakeshores and in coastal areas with fields, marshes, piers, and sand dunes. Irruptive, moving considerably south of the usual wintering range some years.Since this is a northern tier owl, I built her habitat to include a proportionalfence post with barbed wire perch and a lemming peeking out from it’s tunnel. The owl is 1/3 normal size, so normal barbed wire couldn’t be used. I pulled 12 gauge copper wire thin to the appropriate size then treated it to create a rust patina. The owl is carved out of tupelo, the post is cedar, and the wire is as previously mentioned. Acrylic paints were used.