The snowy owl, a large white arctic owl known for its striking appearance and hunting abilities; the term is used especially in French Canadian regions.
From Old Norse or Scandinavian languages, borrowed into French as 'harfang.' The word traveled through French fur-trading vocabulary to North American English.
Snowy owls are nomadic—they follow lemming population booms, sometimes migrating 4,000 km south when arctic lemmings crash, which is why they sporadically appear in New England and Canada, astonishing birdwatchers.
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