Great Horned Owl

About the Great Horned Owl

The great horned owl (Bubo virginianus), also known as the tiger owl (originally derived from early naturalists' description as the "winged tiger" or "tiger of the air") or the hoot owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an extremely adaptable bird with a vast range and is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas. Its diet consists primarily of rabbits and hares, rats and mice, and voles; it remains one of the few regular predators of skunk. Hunting also includes rodents, larger mid-sized mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates. In ornithological study, the great horned owl is often compared to the Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo), a closely related species, which occupies the same ecological niche in Eurasia despite its notably larger size.

Source: Wikipedia

Classification

Scientific name

Bubo virginianus

Family

Owls

Order

Strigiformes

Similar species

Other members of the owls family recorded in North America — a useful place to start if you are not certain of your identification.

• Balsas Screech-Owl Megascops seductus
• Barred Owl Strix varia
• Bearded Screech-Owl Megascops barbarus
• Black-and-white Owl Strix nigrolineata
• Boreal Owl Aegolius funereus
• Burrowing Owl Athene cunicularia
• Central American Pygmy-Owl Glaucidium griseiceps
• Cinereous Owl Strix sartorii
• Colima Pygmy-Owl Glaucidium palmarum
• Crested Owl Lophostrix cristata
• Eastern Screech-Owl Megascops asio
• Elf Owl Micrathene whitneyi