Eagle Owl

About

A male is known as a MALE, a female is known as a FEMALE and a baby is known as a OWLET. A group is known as a PARLIAMENT.

The largest and most ferocious owl in the world. They have a deep two tone hoot. A wild eagle owl was once seen carrying a Red fox in it’s talons! The great size, bulky, barrel-shaped build, ear tufts and orange eyes make this a distinctive species. The ear tufts of males are more upright than those of females. The plumage coloration, across 13 accepted subspecies, however can be somewhat variable.

The upperparts may be brown-black to tawny-buff to pale creamy gray, typically showing as dense freckling on the forehead and crown, stripes on the nape, sides and back of the neck, and dark splotches on the pale ground colour of the back, mantle and scapulars. The rump and upper tail-coverts are delicately patterned with dark vermiculations and fine wavy barring. The facial disc is tawny-buff, speckled with black-brown, so densely on the outer edge of the disc as to form a “frame” around the face.

Legs and feet are feathered almost to the talons. The tail is tawny-buff, mottled dark grey-brown with about six black-brown bars. The bill and feet are black, the iris is orange. (yellow in some subspecies)