Buffy Fish Owl vs Verreaux's Eagle-Owl

Buffy Fish Owl

Ketupa ketupu

Large1.3 kgRiverine

The buffy fish owl is buff brown with darker tawny brown feathers on the back. Its face is paler and it has light brown eyebrows. With an adult size of 40 to 48 cm (16 to 19 in) and a weight of 1,028 to 2,100 g (36.3 to 74.1 oz), it is the smallest fish owl species. Like all fish owls, the buffy fish owl has prominent ear tufts on the sides of its head. Its wing feathers and tail are broadly barred yellowish and dark brown. The wings are distinctly rounded in shape. The underparts are a yellowish brown, rich buff, or fulvous with broad, blackish shaft stripes. Its long legs are not feathered.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Johnny Wee · CC BY 2.0

Verreaux's Eagle-Owl

Ketupa lactea

Small65 g

Despite the alternative common name of giant eagle-owl, Verreaux's eagle-owl is not the largest owl or eagle-owl in the world. It is, however, a very large and powerful owl species. This species is both the largest owl found in Africa and the world's largest owl to occur in the tropics. Among all the world's owls, it is the fourth heaviest living owl, after Blakiston's fish owl (Ketupa blakistoni), the Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo) and the tawny fish owl (Ketupa flavipes). Voice: The call of the Verreaux's eagle-owl is the deepest of any extant owl species and one of the deepest bird calls in the world, averaging slightly deeper than the calls of the Blakiston's and brown fish owls (Ketupu zeylonensis). The calls of Eurasian eagle-owls are less deep but are possibly louder and farther carrying.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Nicolas Huet / Jean Gabriel Prêtre · Public domain

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Buffy Fish Owl and Verreaux's Eagle-Owl.