What's for Dinner? The Diet of the Snowy Owl and Canada Lynx

In order to catch prey, the Snowy Owl will hunt late at night or ery early in the morning. They remain motionless perched for several hours during the day, even when accompanied by their young. If food is spotted, it will ambush it by either dropping directly from above, or by gliding down to it and seizing it with one or both feet (24).

The Snowy Owl digestive system has the traditional avian digestive tract. Here is the digestive tract of the Red- Tailed Hawk, 45-65 cm. Buteo Jamaicensis, taken from Stevens& Hume 1995 (2). 

The organs of apprehension in the Snowy Owl are the beak and feet. Food is typically swallowed whole, or chunks are ripped off of the carcass by the beak and feet to ease swallowing. Food then passes down the esophagus, and enters the proventriculus. Unlike most other birds, owls do not have a crop, so food begins chemical digestion right away. Acid digestion of protein material occurs here by enzymes and mucus, and then the food continues onto the ventriculus. The ventriculus is where mechanical digestion occurs. The soft parts of the food are digested by muscular contractions here before passing onto the small intestine, where the liver and pancreas secrete enzymes to further digest the animal material for absorption. Waste products are stored in the cloaca, where the digestive and urinary systems meet, and are excreted through the vent (9). 

After eating, the indigestible material (bones, feathers, fur) still trapped in the gizard are compacted into a pellet, which travels back up to the proventriculus, and ejected 10 hours later. The owl cannot have another meal until the pellet is ejected, since it blocks the digestive tract (9).