← Birds of prey and owls

Birds of prey and owls

Spotted Eagle-Owl

Bubo africanus Β· isiZulu: iSikhova

Spotted Eagle-Owl 🔍 Enlarge
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Here all year

What it sounds like

A soft, carrying two-note hoot (HOO-hoo), often answered by its mate a moment later. Listen at dusk.

Tony Archer, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

How to recognise it

The big one residents see most, and the one doing the rat control. Grey-brown, finely barred, with prominent ear tufts and startling yellow eyes. It hunts from a perch and takes rodents, large insects and the occasional bird. A pair will hold the same few blocks for years.

Seen in Manor Gardens

Nobody has logged a Spotted Eagle-Owl here yet. If you spot one, you will be the first on the record.

More birds of prey and owls

About this site