Great Grey Owl

Strix nebulosa

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernVertebratesForestScrapeLarge · 1.1 kg

What the Great Grey Owl sounds like

Sonogram of the Great Grey Owl: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Robert Petersen · Song · Lindesberg Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Great Grey Owl: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Robert Petersen · Song · Lindesberg Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Great Grey Owl: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Robert Petersen · Song · Lindesberg Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

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.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Great Grey Owl

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 10 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is March, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Great Grey Owl

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 7 countries with regular records, and 4 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Recorded as a rare visitor in United States, Canada, Germany, China.

About the Great Grey Owl

The great grey owl is a true owl, and is the world's largest species of owl by length. It is distributed across the Northern Hemisphere and is the only species in the genus Strix found in both Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Side by side: Great Grey Owl vs Ural Owl · Great Grey Owl vs Mottled Owl · Elf Owl vs Great Grey Owl · Black-and-white Owl vs Great Grey Owl · African Wood Owl vs Great Grey Owl · Great Grey Owl vs Mottled Wood Owl

Watch the Great Grey Owl on live cams

Great Gray Owl Nest stream previewRETURNS APRIL
Great Gray Owl NestMontana, USA · Owl Research Institute on explore.org

Browse all 118 bird cams worldwide, live and seasonal, by region and species.

Learn the Great Grey Owl in the BeakBrain App

Photo and call practice. Coming soon to iPhone and Android.

Play today's Daily Bird

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