Typical Owls

Long-eared Owl, Asio otus

Family Strigidae (Typical Owls)

Size: 15"

Season: Year-round

Habitat: Dense woodlands near clearings or fields

The long-eared owl is a cryptic, nocturnal owl with a slender body, relatively long wings, and conspicuous ear tufts. The plumage is a mottled gray brown above and pale with dark streaking below. The bright-yellow-orange eyes are in the middle of dark, vertical stripes, enclosed in a pale-orange facial disk. They can compress their bodies vertically to appear as part of the tree branches. During the night, using their keen sense of hearing, long-eared owls fly on silent wings to hunt small rodents or birds. Their typical call is a series of low, well-spaced hoo notes. The adult is illustrated.