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Snyder's and Labrador Great Horned Owls in Toronto |
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14 December 2008 |
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Scroll down for
4 photos of two subspecies of Great Horned Owl wintering in Toronto that are different
from the resident Great Horned Owl. Seen on Toronto Christmas Bird
Count |
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Snyder's Great Horned Owl 1 on 14
December 2008. This is a pale northern subspecies of
the Great Horned Owl, whose range is almost entirely in northern
Ontario, except in winter when some come south. Its facial discs are pale grey and its plumage is
much paler than the typical Great Horned Owl of southern Ontario.
This subspecies was described in 1961 by L.L. Snyder of the Royal
Ontario Museum who named the breeding population in northern Ontario
as
Bubo
virginianus scalariventris. |
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Reference: L.L.
Snyder. Curator of Birds. On an Unnamed Population of the Great
Horned Owl. Contribution No. 54. 1961. The Royal Ontario Museum. |
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Snyder's Great Horned Owl 1. Same as
above showing the vermiculated pattern of the scapulars, coverts,
tertials and tail. |
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A second
Snyder's Great Horned Owl on 14 December showing pattern of the
scapulars, coverts, primaries and tail. |
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Labrador Great Horned Owl. A dark subspecies of Great Horned Owl
Bubo
virginianus heterocnemis
breeds in northern Quebec,
Labrador, and Newfoundland and wanders occasionally in winter into
Ontario. Its facial discs are dark and its plumage is darker that
the typical Great Horned Owl of southern Ontario. 14 December 2008. |
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Ron Pittaway's
article:
Subspecies of Great Horned Owl in Ontario |
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Snyder's and Labrador Great Horned Owls in Toronto - Scroll down
to page 18: Toronto Birds 3(1):18-22. January 2009. |
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