Dusky Eagle Owl

Eagle owls form pairs in early fall and nest in late January and early February. They prefer to nest in crevices between rocks, sheltered cliff ledges, cave entrances, as well as abandoned nests of other large birds. Usually egg laying begins in late winter. They usually have one batch of eggs per year ranging from one to four white eggs. This number depends on the food availiable in their area. When the owlets hatch, they are brooded for about two weeks. In about three weeks the young begin to feed and swallow by themselves. By week five they can walk around the nesting area and begin to fly about 60 days, although for only a few meters. They leave the nest or are driven out in the fall (Sept-Nov.) Eagle owls are able to breed from the ages of 2-31 years.

 

Eagle owls are known for their loud calls. They are heard far more than they are seen. They use their var-i-ous hoots and clucks to let oth-ers know they have en-tered or are en-ter-ing cer-tain ter-ri-to-ries. Dif-fer-ent hoots rep-re-sent dif-fer-ent moods and are eas-ily rec-og-niz-able be-tween each mem-ber of the species. Also, eagle owls are able to de-ci-pher the size and dis-tance of in-trud-ers based on the in-ten-sity of their call. They also use a low gut-teral hoot to at-tract mates. It's in-ter-est-ing to note that even though eagle owls are dif-fi-cult to study, they (like other owls) cough up what is known as an owl pel-let after their stom-ach goes through the di-ges-tive process. These owl pel-lets con-tain the hair, feath-ers, and bones of prey they were un-able to di-gest. These pel-lets are very use-ful to sci-en-tists be-cause they help them un-der-stand the food habits of these elu-sive birds.

 

Food Habits

 

Eagle owls are car-ni-vores. They are pri-mar-ily noc-tur-nal hunters and have var-i-ous hunt-ing tech-niques. They take their prey in flight or on the ground. They pre-fer to hunt in open spa-cious lo-ca-tions rather than forests. Most owls are very ca-pa-ble hunters and the eagle owl is no ex-cep-tion. Owl wings have evolved to make very lit-tle noise when flap-ping. With their night vi-sion, ad-vanced hear-ing, and silent flight they are the hit men of their ter-ri-tory. Their prey usu-ally has no idea they were being stalked. They feed on al-most any-thing they can catch in-clud-ing rats, mice, voles, bee-tles and even large prey like deer fawns and foxes. They will also feed on other birds such as crows, ducks, and even other owls. Dom-i-nant prey can vary from habi-tat to habi-tat but is most often small ro-dents.

Primary Diet:

carnivore ( eats terrestrial vertebrates ,

insectivore

)

Animal Foods:

birds ;

mammals ;

reptiles ;

insects

 

Pre-da-tion

 

Once eagle owls reach adult-hood, they are at a very low risk of pre-da-tion. They are at the top of the food chain in their niche. They are not a major food source for any other species. The only time they are at risk of pre-da-tion is dur-ing their early years. They are at risk from any preda-tor too large for them too eat. For-tu-nately, the mother stays with the young for most of this pe-riod and keeps the preda-tors at bay. Due to their striped, spot-ted, and var-ied col-or-ing, they are ex-tremely well cam-ou-flaged, es-pe-cially when perch-ing in the trees. (Parry-Jones, 1998)

Anti-predator Adaptations:

cryptic

 

Ecosys-tem Roles

 

Eagle owls are at the top of their food chain. They are par-tic-u-larly use-ful in keep-ing the num-ber of ro-dents down in their var-i-ous ecosys-tems. The re-moval of this species can cause the ro-dent pop-u-la-tion in a given area to grow sig-nif-i-cantly. There-fore, they may be a key-stone preda-tor. (Konig, et al., 1999; Parry-Jones, 1998; )

Ecosystem Impact:

keystone species

 

Eco-nomic Im-por-tance for Hu-mans: Pos-i-tive

 

Eagle owls are eco-nom-i-cally ben-e-fi-cial to farm-ers that want to keep the num-ber of ro-dents down on their land. Many bird-watch-ers will also pay to get a glimpse of this rare bird in its nat-ural habi-tat as well as in zoos

 

Done