From Izzy Edwards

Blending in with the snag. Great Gray Owl chicks at sunset.

They don’t have that huge facial disc grown in yet, but they still have the eyes that look too small for one of the largest owls.

What is a snag?

Snags are the gift that keeps on giving to wildlife! While living trees are beautiful and provide many essentials to life, when they die, they are still able to provide to many more organisms before they fall over.

It’s not difficult to spot the snag in this photo!

A snag is any standing dead tree, usually missing its top and most of the branches.

Here’s a bit of the Wikipedia entry on some of the positive things a snag can provide:

Snags are an important structural component in forest communities, making up 10-20% of all trees present in old-growth tropical, temperate, and boreal forests. Snags and downed coarse woody debris represent a large portion of the woody biomass in a healthy forest.

In temperate forests, snags provide critical habitat for more than 100 species of bird and mammal, and snags are often called ‘wildlife trees’ by foresters. Dead, decaying wood supports a rich community of decomposers like bacteria and fungi, insects, and other invertebrates. These organisms and their consumers, along with the structural complexity of cavities, hollows, and broken tops make snags important habitat for birds, bats, and small mammals, which in turn feed larger mammalian predators.

Snags are optimal habitat for primary cavity nesters such as woodpeckers which create the majority of cavities used by secondary cavity users in forest ecosystems. Woodpeckers excavate cavities for more than 80 other species and the health of their populations relies on snags. Most snag-dependent birds and mammals are insectivorous and represent a major portion of the insectivorous forest fauna, and are important factors in controlling forest insect populations.

Since Great Greys are so large, not much else will provide a space large enough for them to nest. Snags from very old trees are crucial to their survival.

Snag Lifecycle