Snowy owls are common year-round in the Arctic on the open tundra. They fly south throughout Canada in winter. The best time to see a snowy owl in the lower 48 states is during an irruption.

These northern wanderers can be found in Canada, Scandinavia ... Melissa Groo Snowy owl siblings lie low and unmoving in the tundra grass, hoping to escape detection by predators.

Although they breed and spend most of their lives on the treeless tundra above the Arctic Circle, each late fall and winter some snowy owls fly south into southern Canada and the northern United ...