A couple days ago we had a random Spring snow storm, so I took advantage and snapped a few pics of a species that would normally be home in such a climate, the snowy owl, Bubo scandiacus. What is interesting, I posted the first review on the blog and that figure was Schleich’s tawny owl. And until today, we have not had another one! Today we are looking at the snowy owl by Schleich, which was released in 2012. When I first started researching figures for my Synoptic Collection, I assumed I would buy the Wings of the World figure by Safari Ltd. But the more I looked at posted pics of the figures on the forums, the more I gravitated to the Schleich figure.
The snowy owl is a large owl species that has a circumpolar distribution in North America and Eurasia. Unlike many owls, snowy owls are diurnal hunters of small mammalian and avian prey. They also nest on the ground.
The figure measures approximately 6.5 cm from beak to tail, making it roughly 1:10 scale on average (1:8.6 – 1:11.8). Snowy owls are sexually dimorphic. Both species have a base color of white, but females (and juveniles) have more black spots than males. The color on this particular figure suggests it is an adult female. The eyes have great detail, yellow with black lining and a discrete black pupil. The feet and tail are painted a dirty white. Nice touch!
The figure is permanently attached to a base depicting a snow-covered branch (partially covered by snow in my pics, sorry). This allows the claws to be sculpted in detail and to scale. Those of you who follow my forum and blog posts know I like figures on bases depicting natural habitat or substrate, especially smaller animals such as arthropods, fish, birds, and small mammals. I know the presence of a base is discouraging for some, however.
If you want a snowy owl in your collection, this figure is a great choice. The nice thing is, there is no shortage of good snowy owl figures. The aforementioned figure by Safari Ltd. as well as the figure by Papo are also both great. Kaiyodo has a made a few nice ones too (and they may be better scale for standard-sized large animals).
Excellent figure. I like bases on figures too, at least those that could not stand stable themselves or required a less natural pose. I’d just have liked it better with a stone or rock as base, as that branch doesnt really improve stability in this figure.