Discover answers to the most popular questions about great horned owls, including classification, identification, habitat and range, hunting and diet, behavior, and conservation status.
Classification
How Are Great Horned Owls Classified?
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Aves
Order: Strigiformes
Family: Strigidae
Genus: Bubo
Species: B. virginianus
Identification
What Does a Great Horned Owl Look Like?
The Great Horned Owl’s most distinctive feature is the tuft of feathers at the top of its head, for which it is named. They are often mistaken for ears, which are actually located at the side of the owl’s head. [1]
The coloring of the Great Horned Owl is generally dark and mottled on the backside and lighter on the underside. It has white throat feathers with black or brown stripes down the belly. The exact color of the owl depends on its geographical location. For example, Great Horned Owls in the desert tend to be lighter than those in the woods. [2]
Why Don’t Owls Have Bright Plumage Like Other Birds?
In nature, an animal’s characteristics, such as color, usually serve a purpose. In the case of the brightly colored bird, which is typically the male of the species, this characteristic helps attract the female bird, thereby contributing to the propagation of the species. The female, in contrast, has muted colors, which allows her to remain inconspicuous when roosting. [3]
Considering that the Great Horned Owl hunts in fields, marshes, and forests, it is ideally suited in color to easily glide over its hunting territory without being immediately conspicuous to its prey.
How Big Is a Great Horned Owl?
The size of the Great Horned Owl depends on its location and sex. Owls in the North tend to be larger and weigh more than owls in the South. The female of the species is up to 20% larger than the male. On average, the Great Horned Owl ranges in size from 18-25 inches tall and weighs 2-5-1/2 pounds. [4]
Habitat and Range
Are Great Horned Owls Only Found in the United States?
Although the Great Horned Owl is the most common in the Americas, it can be found in North, Central, and South America, ranging from as far north as the high tundra of Alaska and Canada, southward into Patagonia, located at the southern end of South America. It is only absent from a few islands in the Pacific Northwest, the West Indies, and the lowland rainforests of South America and Amazonia. [5]
Where Do Great Horned Owls Live?
The Great Horned Owl is a highly adaptable species, capable of thriving in a variety of habitats, from dense forests to arid deserts. This adaptability allows them to make a home in any setting that provides suitable prey, with a preference for woody areas interspersed with fields and streams. They choose nesting sites that are already present, such as a squirrel’s nest or a cave, as long as it is concealed. [6]
Hunting and Diet
What Do Great Horned Owls Eat?
Like all owls, Great Horned Owls are birds of prey, making a meal of what is available to them in the ecosystem. Although they will feed on other birds, such as ducks and geese, up to ninety percent of their diet consists of mammals, including rabbits, opossums, woodchucks, and similar species. It is also one of the few predators that feed on skunks. They also feed on smaller mammals such as voles, mice, squirrels, and chipmunks. When prey populations are low, they will feed on reptiles, amphibians, fish, and large insects. [7]
Unlike the smaller barn owl that will only eat live prey, the Great Horned Owl will eat carrion if necessary.
Owls do not digest food in the same manner that we do. They swallow their food whole, and the parts that they can’t digest, such as bones, teeth, and fur, are compacted into pellets and coughed up. [8]
If a Great Horned Owl kills more than it can eat, it stores it away for later use. It will incubate frozen food until it is thawed.
Will a Great Horned Owl Eat a Cat?
If you have a small pet and an owl takes up residence around your property, it is essential to know what kind of owl you are dealing with. Unlike the smaller barn owl, which can fall prey to a large housecat, the Great Horned Owl is a fierce hunter that will feed on domestic pets and livestock, such as cats and chickens, especially when wild prey populations are scarce. [9]
Just ask the residents of Gakona, a small town in Alaska. In a four-day period, an aggressive Great Horned Owl attacked two dogs and a cat. Several pet rabbits and a dog were found dead, which was attributed to the same owl. “These little critters are in the food chain. If an animal gets hungry enough or aggressive enough, it’ll take one,” said Bob Tobey, the area veterinarian who treated several of the pets. [10]
According to Steve Lewis, a raptor specialist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Juneau, it is not a common occurrence. “I have not heard a lot of cases of owls attacking pets,” Lewis said. “There are Great Horned Owls around almost every community in Alaska, and you don’t hear about this. If this were a common event, it would be documented more often, and it doesn’t happen a lot.” [11]
How Do Great Horned Owls Catch Their Prey?
Unlike many owls that prefer to glide close to the ground in search of prey, the Great Horned Owl has a unique hunting strategy. It sits quietly and perches, using its exceptional low-light vision to seek out prey. However, its most impressive hunting tool is its hearing, which is ten times more sensitive than that of a human. Once it pinpoints its prey, it silently swoops down, preparing its talons to extend to grab the prey, which can exert a force of almost thirty pounds. It uses this force to sever the spine of larger prey, demonstrating its efficiency as a predator. [12]
Do Great Horned Owls Have Predators?
As powerful, top-level predators, adult Great Horned Owls play a crucial role in maintaining the balance of their ecosystems. Their few predators, although they may fall victim to other Great Horned Owls, do not significantly impact their population. However, baby owls and eggs may fall prey to raccoons and crows, highlighting the delicate balance of the ecosystem. [13]
Behavior
Are Great Horned Owls Nocturnal?
Generally speaking, Great Horned Owls are considered to be nocturnal, but that doesn’t mean that you will never see them at other times of the day. They are frequently seen hunting at dawn or dusk, which also makes them crepuscular. You may even see a Great Horned Owl during the day if its prey is scarce and it has not sufficiently stockpiled during the evening. [14]
Do Great Horned Owls Migrate?
Great Horned Owls are not migratory birds, though some owls from the northern area may migrate southward in response to snowshoe hare population crashes. [15]
Conservation Status
Are Great Horned Owls Endangered?
As of December 2013, Great Horned Owls in the United States are currently not protected by the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). The US Fish and Wildlife Service regulates the ESA with cooperation from the National Marine Fisheries Service. [16]
(Current owls on the ESA endangered species list include the Anjouan scops owl, Morden’s owlet, giant scops owl, Madagascar red owl, Mexican spotted owl, northern spotted owl, and the Seychelles scops owl)
Although the Great Horned Owl is not endangered, it does pose a threat to other species of concern, such as the peregrine falcon and spotted owls. [17]
References
- [1] National Geographic Kids – “Great Horned Owl.”
- [2][12][14][17] Cornell University Lab of Ornithology – “Great Horned Owl.”
- [3] Heinsohn, R; Scientific American – “Why Are Male Birds More Colorful Than Female Birds?”
- [4] National Geographic – “Great Horned Owl.”
- [5] Smith, Dwight G. Great Horned Owl. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2002. Print
- [6][8] Penn State University Virtual Nature Trail – “Great Horned Owl.”
- [7][9][15] Heintzelman, Donald S. Hawks and Owls of Eastern North America. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2004. Print.
- [10][11] Woodford, R. Alaska Department of Fish and Game – Great Horned Owl Attacks Pets Unusual Incidents in Copper River Valley
- [13] Minnesota Department of Natural Resources – “Great Horned Owl.”
- [16] US Fish and Wildlife Service – “Listing a Species as Threatened or Endangered.”
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