Bird Guide

Great Grey Owl vs Mottled Wood Owl

Great Grey Owl (Strix nebulosa)

Great Grey Owl

Strix nebulosa

Large1.1 kgForest

Adults have large, rounded heads with grey faces and yellow eyes with darker circles around them. The underparts are light with dark streaks; the upper parts are grey with pale bars. This owl does not have ear tufts and has the largest facial disc of any raptor. A white collar or "bow-tie" is just below the beak. The long tail tapers to a rounded end. In length, the great grey owl is believed to exceed the Eurasian eagle-owl and Blakiston's fish owl as the world's largest owl. The great grey is outweighed by those two species and several others, including most of the genus Bubo.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Great Grey Owl
Recorded by Robert Petersen · Song · Lindesberg Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Loomahuviline69 · CC BY 4.0
Mottled Wood Owl (Strix ocellata)

Mottled Wood Owl

Strix ocellata

Large559 gWoodland

This large owl lacks ear tufts and is mottled and vermiculated in reddish brown and white. The face disc is marked with fine concentric black and white barring. The sexes are alike. The chin is white. The eyelid is orange, and the iris is dark brown. The tail is barred narrowly in brown and black. The concentric barring on the face and mottled crown separate it from the brown wood owl in southern India. There are three subspecies recognized and there are no sharp demarcations in their distributions. S. o.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Mottled Wood Owl
Recorded by Dinesh Chaudhary · Call · Dang (near Mahardar), Gujarat, India · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Pramod CL · CC BY 4.0

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Great Grey Owl and Mottled Wood Owl.