Eurasian eagle-owl

Europe’s largest owl, with a wingspan approaching 1.7 m. It has big orange eyes and long ear tufts, and hunts at night from rocky cliffs.

It has bold ear tufts, bright orange eyes and mottled dark and tawny feathers, with barred wings and tail. Its legs are feathered almost to the talons. It is mainly a night hunter, taking rodents and rabbits but also birds and larger mammals, with reptiles, fish and big insects as extra prey. Its range covers about 51.4 million square kilometres and its population is estimated at 100,000 to 500,000. The IUCN lists it as least concern, although the trend is decreasing.

Biggest owl?

It is sometimes called the world's largest owl, but Blakiston's fish owl is slightly heavier on average and the great grey owl is a little longer. The eagle-owl's wingspan is typically 131 to 188 cm, and the largest may reach 2 metres. Females weigh 1.75 to 4.6 kg. It has quite small wings for its weight, so it has high wing loading, yet its flying skills are not as different from a golden eagle's as you might think.

Raising a family

Eagle-owls breed on cliff ledges, in gullies, among rocks and in other hidden places. The nest is just a scrape holding usually 2 to 4 eggs, which are laid at intervals and hatch at different times. The female sits on the eggs and keeps the chicks warm, while the male brings food for her and the nestlings. Both parents look after the young for about five months.

Owls in Britain

Eagle-owls are rare in the United Kingdom, where an estimated 12 to 40 pairs lived in 2016, and they have bred there successfully since at least 1996. Whether they are native is debated. In some places tame eagle-owls have been used for pest control, because their size scares away big birds such as gulls from nesting. There are subspecies of the Eurasian eagle-owl, at least 12, differing in colour, from nearly black to pale cream-grey.

On the globe

The model shows a big owl with ear tufts and orange eyes, as in the card. Look at the ear tufts.