- Bubo africanus
Identification
45 cm. (18")
Off white to pale orche facial disk, yellow eyes, prominent ear tufts, and the upper body is dusky brown, the lower parts off-white with brown bars. Both gray and a rare rufous morphs occur.
Similar Species
Cape Eagle-Owl is larger with much larger feet and orange, not yellow eyes and more penetrating calls.
Distribution
Africa south of the Sahara desert.
Taxonomy
Prior to 1999 the Spotted Eagle-owl was considered conspecific with the Vermiculated Eagle-owl, but now it is classed as a separate species. Arabian Eagle-Owl formerly was included in Spotted Eagle-Owl.
Bubo africanus has two recognized subspecies:[1]
- B. a. africanus
- Gabon to DRC, southern Uganda, central Kenya and south to southern South Africa
- B. a. tanae
- South-eastern Kenya (central and lower Tana River and Lali Hills)
Habitat
Rocky outcrops, scrub land, open woods, and semi deserts.
Behaviour
Diet
The diet includes small mammals, birds, insects and reptiles.
Breeding
Their nest is made on the ground though they have been known to nest on window ledges of buildings. Breeding begins in July continuing to the first weeks of February. 2-4 eggs area laid and incubated by the female for about 32 days. The female leaves the nest only to eat what the male has brought food. The young owls can fly at around seven weeks of age. Five weeks later, the young owls leave the nest.
Vocalizations
Hooting "hu-hoo" similar to Cape Eagle-Owl but softer and less penetrating.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Dickinson, EC, ed. 2014. The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. 4th ed. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0956861122
- Hockey, PAR, WRJ Dean, and PG Ryan, eds. 2005. Roberts' Birds of Southern Africa. 7th ed. Cape Town: John Voelcker Bird Book Fund. ISBN 978-0620340533
- Holt, D.W., Berkley, R., Deppe, C., Enríquez Rocha, P., Petersen, J.L., Rangel Salazar, J.L., Segars, K.P., Wood, K.L. & Marks, J.S. (2018). Spotted Eagle-owl (Bubo africanus). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/55012 on 22 June 2018).
- Sinclair, I and P Ryan. 2003. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691118154
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Spotted Eagle-Owl. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 April 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Spotted_Eagle-Owl
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
