Bird Guide

Great Grey Owl vs Ural 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
Ural Owl (Strix uralensis)

Ural Owl

Strix uralensis

Large781 gForest

Like most Strix species, it has a broad, rounded head with a correspondingly round facial disc, barring a tiny V-shaped indentation. The Ural owl has, for an owl, an exceptionally long tail that bears a wedge-shaped tip. In colour, it tends to be a plain pale greyish-brown to whitish overall (with more detailed description of their variation under subspecies), with a slightly darker grey-brown to brown back and mantle with contrasting whitish markings.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Ural Owl
Recorded by Grégoire Chauvot · Duet, song · Leksand, Leksand Municipality, Dalarna County, Sweden · CC0
Photo: Yana Dombrovskaya · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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