hummocks, fenceposts, telegraph poles by roads, radio and transmission towers, haystacks, chimneys and the roofs of houses and large buildings. Rocks may be used as perches at times in all seasons. Though often relatively sluggish owls, like most related species, they are capable of sudden dashing movements in various contexts. Snowy owls can walk and run quite quickly, using outstretched wings for balance if necessary. This owl flies with fairly rowing wingbeats, occasionally interrupted by gliding on stretched wings. The flight is fairly buoyant for a Bubo owl. When displaying, the male may engage in an undulating flight with interspersed wingbeats and gliding in a slight dihedral, finally dropping rather vertically to the ground. They are capable for swimming but do not usually do so. Some seen to be swimming were previously injured but young have been seen to swim into water to escape predators if they cannot fly yet. They will also drink when unfrozen water is available. Snowy owl mothers have been observed to preen their young in the wild, while pairs in captivity have been observed to allopreen. In the period leading up to breeding, snowy owls switched regularly between searching (for nesting grounds) and loafing, often searching less when snow cover was less extensive. Snowy owls will fight with conspecifics in all seasons occasionally but this is relatively infrequent during breeding and rarer still during winter. Dogfights and talon interlocking may ensue if the fight between two snowy owls continues to escalate. A study determined that snowy owls are able to orient the whitest parts of their plumage towards the sun, spending about 44% of time oriented as such during sunny days and much less on cloudy days. Some authors interpret this as a presumed signal to conspecifics, but thermoregulation could also be a factor. It is known that during winter in Alberta that female snowy owls are territorial towards one another and may not leave an area for up to 80 days but males are nomadic, usually only staying 1–2 days in an area (seldom to 3–17 days). The females spent on average seven times as long in a given area than did males. During threat displays, individuals will lower the front of the body, stretch the head low and forward, with partially extended wings and feathers on the head and raise their back. If continuously threatened or cornered, the posture in the threat display