Greyish eagle-owl

Greyish eagle-owl

Vermiculated eagle-owl

Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
SPECIES
Bubo cinerascens

The greyish eagle-owl or vermiculated eagle-owl (Bubo cinerascens ) is a rather large owl of the northern part of Sub-Saharan Africa. It was previously regarded as the northern subspecies of the spotted eagle-owl (Bubo africanus ).

Appearance

This species is about 43 centimetres (17 in) long and weighs about 500 grams (1.1 lb). Like the spotted eagle-owl, the greyish eagle-owl has mottled dark brown, buff, and white upperparts and finely barred (vermiculated) underparts giving a greyish-brown appearance. It differs from the spotted eagle-owl in having dark brown (not yellow) eyes and a brownish facial disk marked with a heavy brown circle around each eye. It also has morphological differences, such as being lighter though about the same length and having shorter tarsi.

Distribution

Geography

It is found in the northern part of Sub-Saharan Africa from Mauritania and Liberia east to Sudan and Somalia. Its habitats include dry rocky deserts and open savannah, as well as lowland forests in Somalia.

Habits and Lifestyle

Roosts during the day hidden and sites used vary from rocky natural sites such as cliff crevices and boulders to bushes and trees to man-made sites. It feeds on larger insects and other large arthropods as well as vertebrates. It usually hunts from a perch, using a sit and wait technique, but may also hawk insects and sometimes bats in flight. The breeding biology is probably similar to the spotted eagle-owl. It lays 2-3 eggs in a scrape on the ground or among rocks or in a sheltered cliff site, although it will sometimes reuse the old platform-like nests of larger birds in trees.

Lifestyle
Seasonal behavior
Bird's call

Diet and Nutrition

Population

References

1. Greyish eagle-owl Wikipedia article - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyish_eagle-owl
2. Greyish eagle-owl on The IUCN Red List site - https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/61741660/95178482
3. Xeno-canto bird call - https://xeno-canto.org/317630

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