Bird Album
Great Grey Owl
Strix nebulosa Forster, JR, 1772
61–84 cmLength137 cmWingspan1.1 kgWeight
The adult has a round face and yellow eyes, with what looks like a white bow tie below the bill.
How to identify
Field marks
- Adult face gray, with dark rings around the yellow eyes
- Adult has a white bow-tie-shaped patch below the bill
- Adult upperparts gray with pale barring
- Adult underparts pale with dark stripes
Male, female and young
Male generally smaller than female.
Voice
The adult call is a series of very low, rhythmic “who” notes; usually quiet.
Where and when it's recorded
No records at the public birding hotspots we track. It may be rare, remote, or its locations protected.
About
The great grey owl (Strix nebulosa) (also great gray owl in American English) 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.
Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia
Questions
How big is the Great Grey Owl?
The Great Grey Owl is about 61–84 cm long, with a wingspan of 137 cm and weighs around 1.1 kg.
Where does the Great Grey Owl live?
Its breeding range: North America, Palearctic: northern.
Is the Great Grey Owl endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the Great Grey Owl as Least Concern.
What does the Great Grey Owl eat?
Main food: Vertebrate prey.
What family is the Great Grey Owl in?
It belongs to the family Owls (Strigidae), order Strigiformes.
At a glance
- Length
- 61–84 cm
- Wingspan
- 137 cm
- Weight
- 1.1 kg
- Habitat
- Forest
- Diet
- Vertebrate prey
- Lifestyle
- Perches in trees
- Migration
- Resident (barely migrates)
- Conservation
- Least Concern
More measurements
- Wing
- 436 mm
- Tail
- 263 mm
- Bill
- 44 mm
- Tarsus
- 60 mm
Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.
Range
North America, Palearctic: northern
Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2
Classification
- Order
- Strigiformes
- Family
- Owls Strigidae
- Genus
- Strix
Other birds in the genus Strix
Spotted Wood OwlStrix seloputo
Mottled Wood OwlStrix ocellata
Brown Wood OwlStrix leptogrammica
Tawny OwlStrix aluco
Maghreb OwlStrix mauritanica
Himalayan OwlStrix nivicolum
Desert OwlStrix hadorami
Omani OwlStrix butleri
Spotted OwlStrix occidentalis
Barred OwlStrix varia
Cinereous OwlStrix sartorii
Fulvous OwlStrix fulvescens
Download illustration
Free to use with credit: “Illustration: Bird Album (birdalbum.com)”. Drawn by AI from a reference photo by Nigel Voaden. ↗
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