Snowy Owls in Grays Harbor: Shifting Ecosystems, a Changing Climate, and Migration
CIC Museum Research Document (Created 12/12/2025) Photograph by Aidan McCarthy. All rights reserved.
Silent and deft hunters with eyes like two yellow moons, snowy owls may appear out of place on the open coastal plains and farmlands of Ocean Shores. Their crisp white-to-tawny-brown feathers seem better suited to Arctic tundra than to Pacific beaches. Yet snowy owls are not rare visitors to Grays Harbor. For generations, these Arctic predators have arrived here in winter, linking our coastal ecosystems to the far northern landscapes.
Snowy owls are from the Arctic regions of North America and the Palearctic regions of Europe and Asia. These regions are chiefly tundra biomes, regions with few trees due to frigid temperatures. In the Arctic, snowy owls feed almost exclusively on lemmings, eating up to an estimated 1,600 lemmings in a single year (or 3-5 lemmings per day). But as lemming populations cycle through dramatic booms and crashes, snowy owls must rely on other prey when numbers are low. During these resource shortages, snowy owls may migrate in search of food in a phenomenon known as an irruption.
Not Your Average Migration
In years when lemmings are plentiful, snowy owls may stay on their Arctic breeding grounds all year. Meaning that snowy owl irruptions are more connected to food availability than the seasons. Unlike many migratory birds, snowy owls do not follow a set route or schedule, and while crashes in lemming populations often trigger snowy owl irruptions, food shortages are not the only force that sends them south.
After leaving the nest, juvenile snowy owls face a stark choice: remain in the Arctic and compete with experienced adults for territory and prey, or strike out southward in search of open land and food. Many young owls choose the latter. As a result, snowy owls appear nearly every winter in southeastern Canada, the upper Great Lakes states, and New England, with adolescents accounting for as much as 90% of irrupting individuals.
Arctic Vacationers:
Unlike many of the humans who flock to Ocean Shores each summer, snowy owls tend to arrive in the winter months. The earliest documented sightings of snowy owls in Washington State date back to the winter of 1917–1918 in Ocean Shores and in Westport. Yet long before records were kept, these owls had likely been returning to coastal Grays Harbor for centuries—finding refuge along the open dunes and beaches along the Olympic Peninsula.
When snowy owls arrive in Grays Harbor, they temporarily become part of the local coastal food web, hunting small mammals, fish, ducks, and shorebirds. As large predators, they can subtly shift local predator–prey dynamics by preying on local species rather than Arctic lemmings.
Wide Open Spaces:
Unlike many owl species in Washington State that favor forested habitats, such as the widespread great horned owl or the old-growth-dependent spotted owl, snowy owls prefer open landscapes. Tundra, beaches, prairies, and even airports provide the wide, unobstructed spaces snowy owls need to detect small mammals and waterfowl from a distance. Here in Grays Harbor, the best places to view snowy owls include Damon Point State Park (just a half-mile from the Coastal Interpretive Center!), Ocean City State Park, Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge, and the Weatherwax Nature Preserve. Best viewing of Snowy owls in the area is late-fall through early-spring, with peak viewing in December and January before they return to the Arctic in spring for nesting season.
Ages and Stages: Identifying Features of Individual Snowy Owls
Snowy owls exhibit sexual dimorphism, meaning males and females have distinct physical differences. Typically, female snowy owls are larger than their male counterparts, sometimes by as much as 20%. However, the easiest way to visually determine sex is by coloration. Adult males are typically crisp white, with little to no mottling, which can make them appear almost pure white against snowy landscapes. Females, along with younger birds, retain more brown barring and spotting mixed with white feathers, forming horizontal stripes or bands across the body. This barring is a type of camouflage called disruptive camouflage (or disruptive coloration). The pattern of an animal helps to break up the shape of the animal (zebras, leopards, tigers, striped frogs), making them significantly harder to detect or distinguish. During nesting season, female snowy owls rarely leave the nest, relying on their camouflage to help both themselves and their owlets remain hidden. This reduces the risk of detection by predators seeking vulnerable chicks or by rival males.
Our Snowy Owls at CIC:
At the Coastal Interpretive Center (CIC) we have both a male and female snowy owl specimens. The male snowy owl (central glass case, Habitat Room) is notably whiter than the female specimen (Shoreline Exhibit in Habitat Room, near Geology Room entrance) who has very distinct barring.
Unlikely Connections
Here in Grays Harbor, snowy owls are not simply curiosities or rare spectacles, they are temporary members of our local ecosystem and our communities. Their winter presence connects our beaches, dunes, and estuaries to Arctic tundra thousands of miles away, reminding us that no ecosystem exists in a vacuum — everything is connected.
Humans have a role to play in the future of owl conservation. Borders and lines drawn on a map mean nothing to migratory species. Snowy owls, like countless other birds, move freely across continents in search of food, shelter, and suitable habitat, making their survival dependent on landscapes that extend far beyond any single region or nation. This reality underscores the importance of migratory bird protections and international conservation efforts, such as the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and global flyway agreements, which recognize that protecting wildlife requires cooperation across borders.
As human settlement and development continues to reshape our natural landscapes, the open spaces snowy owls rely on continue to shrink. Conserving places like Damon Point and the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge helps preserve these critical habitats for both resident and transient wildlife. By safeguarding wide, open, and undisturbed landscapes along these shared routes, we help ensure that snowy owls, and many other migratory species, have safe places to rest and hunt throughout their voyage.
Sources
Touch whale bones, examine shipwreck artifacts and connect with the coast's living history.
Support our mission, get involved in educational programs, or contribute through donations and volunteering.
