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Typical Owls

22 Bird Species

Barred Owl

A large, dark-eyed owl without ear tufts. Adult has brown back with white bars and spots, pale buffy underparts with well-defined vertical brown streaks, round head, dark eyes, and yellow bill. Sexes are similar. Spotted Owl of Western North America has white spots on brown underparts. more...

Length: 51 cm Wingspan: 107 cm

Boreal Owl

A small, compact owl of northern forests. Adult has brown wings and back with white spots, white underside with thick brown streaks, white face with black frame, spotted crown, pale bill, and yellow eyes. Sexes are similar. Northern Saw-whet Owl has thick rufous streaks underneath, lacks black facial more...

Length: 25 cm Wingspan: 53 cm

Burrowing Owl

A small, partly diurnal, long-legged owl of open fields. Adult is brown overall with dark patterned wings, spotted and barred underparts, white throat and supercilium, short tail, long legs, and yellow eyes. Florida population is darker and more heavily marked. more...

Length: 24 cm Wingspan: 53 cm

Eastern Screech-Owl

A small, yellow-eyed owl with ear tufts of Eastern North America. Adult is gray-brown or rufous-red overall with black streaks crossed by definite horizontal bars underneath, subtly patterned wings, gray face with black border, and light gray bill. Sexes are similar. Western Screech-Owl has dark bill more...

Length: 22 cm Wingspan: 51 cm

Elf Owl

A tiny owl of the arid Southwest. Adult is small and compact; rounded. Lacks ear tufts, patterned reddish-gray overall, with short tail, speckled gray wings, diffuse reddish streaks below, and yellow eyes. Sexes are similar. more...

Length: 15 cm Wingspan: 33 cm

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

A small, stocky, diurnal owl with proportionally long tail, rare in Southeast Arizona and Southern Texas. Adult is reddish-brown overall with a white belly overlaid by black streaks; dark wings, back, breast, and head, streaked crown, blackish tail with rufous barring; and yellow eyes. Two black patc more...

Length: 17 cm Wingspan: 30 cm

Flammulated Owl

Though common in appropriate habitats, this small, highly nocturnal owl is hard to see, Flammulated Owl is the only small owl in North America with dark eyes. Gray overall with black feather shafts and barring, and variable amounts of rufous, especially around the face and in a line along the scapula more...

Length: 15 cm Wingspan: 40 cm

Great Gray Owl

A very large, tall owl of northern meadows. Adult is grayish overall with diffuse streaks on breast, softly patterned wings, a black-and-white "bowtie" on the throat, large round head lacking ear tufts, and yellow eyes. Sexes are similar. more...

Length: 69 cm Wingspan: 134 cm

Great Horned Owl

The large, familiar "hoot" owl, widespread in North America. Adult is dark brown overall, thickly barred underneath and patterned on the back and wings, with yellow eyes, white throat, and obvious ear tufts. Some regional plumage variation; northern birds are relatively pale, western birds splotchy a more...

Length: 55 cm Wingspan: 111 cm

Long-eared Owl

A slender, cryptically plumaged owl with long ear tufts. Adult male is patterned gray, brown, and orange overall, with streaked and barred underparts, grayish wings with buffy-barred flight feathers, orange face, and dark vertical streaks through yellow eyes. Female is slightly darker and more heavil more...

Length: 38 cm Wingspan: 92 cm

Mottled Owl

A medium-sized owl with no ear tufts. The eyes are dark brown. Brown facial disk framed by bold white brows and whiskers. Upperparts dark brown. Breast is mottled brown. Belly is whitish with dark streaks. Subspecies in southern part of the range are darker overall, with less obvious white brows and more...

Length: 36 cm Wingspan: 84 cm

Northern Boobook

Long-tailed and long-winged owl with dark brown upperparts and heavily-streaked underparts. Uniform brown head, neck, back and wings. Underparts are white with short, coarse, reddish-brown streaks. Brown tail with broad dark bars. Brown face lacks disk pattern. Yellow eyes with white patch between th more...

Length: 32 cm Wingspan: 80 cm

Northern Hawk Owl

A slender, long-tailed owl of far northern forests. Adult has dark wings with white spots, horizontal brownish bars underneath, long brown tail, spotted crown, white face framed by black, and yellow eyes. Lacks ear tufts. Sexes are similar. more...

Length: 41 cm Wingspan: 72 cm

Northern Pygmy-Owl

A small, stocky, comparatively long-tailed diurnal owl of western mountains. Adult is reddish-brown overall with a white belly overlaid by black streaks; dark wings, back, breast, and head with yellow spots; blackish tail with white barring; and yellow eyes. Two black patches on back of head act as f more...

Length: 17 cm Wingspan: 30 cm

Northern Saw-whet Owl

A small, round, short-tailed and large-headed owl with yellow eyes, lacking ear tufts. Adult has thick rufous streaks below on whitish breast, dark wings with white spots, dark back, and white eyebrows on dark face with streaked crown. Sexes are similar. Boreal Owl is more black and white, lacking ru more...

Length: 20 cm Wingspan: 42 cm

Oriental Scops-Owl

Small gray-brown or reddish-brown owl with medium length ear tufts that are sometimes compressed, making the head look rounded. Highly variable color morphs, which all bear some resemblance to North American Screech-Owls, vary from gray to reddish-brown. Small pale bill with dark tip. Yellow eyes. Br more...

Length: 19 cm Wingspan: 53 cm

Non-vegetated Areas

1 species

Great Horned Owl

Bubo virginianus

Rimrocks and Mesas, Urban Landscapes, Suburban/residential Landscapes, Open Country and Grasslands, Deserts and Sagebrush Plains, Clearcuts, Boreal Forest, Oak Savannah and Woodlands, Eastern Deciduous Forest, Southeastern Pine-oak Forest, Western Confierous Forest, Dry Western Woodlands, Streamside Gallery Forest and Riparia

Salt Water

2 species

Short-eared Owl

Asio flammeus

Coastal Dunes, Fresh Water Marshes, Open Country and Grasslands, Deserts and Sagebrush Plains, Alpine Tundra and Meadows

Snowy Owl

Bubo scandiacus

Coastal Dunes, Fresh Water Marshes, Open Country and Grasslands

Human-altered Areas

5 species

Barred Owl

Strix varia

Suburban/residential Landscapes, Southern Wooded Swamps, Boreal Forest, Eastern Deciduous Forest, Southeastern Pine-oak Forest, Western Confierous Forest, Dry Western Woodlands, Streamside Gallery Forest and Riparia

Burrowing Owl

Athene cunicularia

Suburban/residential Landscapes, Open Country and Grasslands, Deserts and Sagebrush Plains

Eastern Screech-Owl

Megascops asio

Urban Landscapes, Suburban/residential Landscapes, Eastern Deciduous Forest, Southeastern Pine-oak Forest, Streamside Gallery Forest and Riparia

Great Horned Owl

Bubo virginianus

Western Screech-Owl

Megascops kennicottii

Suburban/residential Landscapes, Oak Savannah and Woodlands, Western Confierous Forest, Dry Western Woodlands, Streamside Gallery Forest and Riparia

Fresh Water

3 species

Barred Owl

Strix varia

Short-eared Owl

Asio flammeus

Coastal Dunes, Fresh Water Marshes, Open Country and Grasslands, Deserts and Sagebrush Plains, Alpine Tundra and Meadows

Snowy Owl

Bubo scandiacus

Coastal Dunes, Fresh Water Marshes, Open Country and Grasslands

Grassland and Scrubland

6 species

Burrowing Owl

Athene cunicularia

Suburban/residential Landscapes, Open Country and Grasslands, Deserts and Sagebrush Plains

Great Horned Owl

Bubo virginianus

Long-eared Owl

Asio otus

Open Country and Grasslands, Deserts and Sagebrush Plains, Boreal Forest, Eastern Deciduous Forest, Dry Western Woodlands, Streamside Gallery Forest and Riparia, Thickets