Snowy Owl (Plate CXXI)

One of the most striking prints in all of Aububon's Birds of America. The Snowy Owls are one of only three night scenes in that monumental work. Two birds are depicted, one male and one female, both perched on their own branch and alert for prey. "Since Audubon was aware that Snowy Owls typically hunt during the day or early evening, he likely wished the setting in this composition to represent the dusk of a gathering storm rather than a nightscape" (Blaugrund and Stebbins, p.184) and indeed the light peeks out from behind the topmost cloud. Nonetheless, the dramatic dark background heightens the contrast with the birds' plumage and their stark perch of a dead tree trunk to superb decorative effect. See Low, p.93.