Alternative name: Great Eagle-Owl
- Bubo bubo
Identification
Largest European Owl at 65-70cm (similar in size to Common Buzzard).
Tawny-brown upperparts, with dark mottling. Blackish streaks on buff underparts. Large, orange fierce-looking eyes appear to 'shine' in the dark facial disc. Prominent wide ear tufts. Bright patch on outer wing visible in flight.
Distribution
Resident in a large part of Europe from Scandinavia to Italy, south of France to Spain and Portugal.
Has bred in Belgium and there has been a breeding pair in the British Isles at Lancashire. Otherwise vagrant to the UK, Denmark, and the Netherlands.
Taxonomy
Subspecies[1]
There are at least 14 subspecies:
- B. b. hispanus: Iberian Peninsula; formerly Atlas Mountains of northern Africa (extinct?)
- B. b. bubo: Scandinavia and Spain through western Europe to western Russia
- B. b. ruthenus: Central European Russia to Ural Mountains and lower Volga basin
- B. b. interpositus: Turkey and north-western Iran to southern Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria
- B. b. sibiricus: Western foothills of Ural Mountains to Ob River and western Altai
- B. b. yenisseensis: Central Siberia to northern Mongolia
- B. b. turcomanus: Lower Volga River and Ural River to north-western China and western Mongolia
- B. b. omissus: Turkmenistan to extreme western China
- B. b. hemachalanus: Pamirs and northern Tien Shan south to western Himalayas and western Tibet
- B. b. nikolskii: Eastern Iraq to Iran, Afghanistan and western Pakistan
- B. b. jakutensis: North-eastern Siberia (Lena River to Sea of Okhotsk)
- B. b. ussuriensis: South-eastern Siberia to north-eastern China, Sakhalin Island, northern Hokkaido and southern Kuril Island
- B. b. kiautschensis: Western and central China (south to Yunnan and Sichuan) to Korea
- B. b. swinhoei: South-eastern China
Habitat
Mountains and forests with cliffs and rocky areas.
Behaviour
Flight
Fast and powerful flight.
Diet
It hunts large prey like Capercaillie and Hare.
Vocalisation
<flashmp3>Bubo bubo (song).mp3</flashmp3>
Listen in an external program
References
- Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Birdwatchers Pocket Guide ISBN 1-85732-804-3
- Collins Field Guide 5th Edition
- Wikipedia
- Konig & Weick, Owls of the world. ISBN 978-0-7136-6548-2
