AnimalvsAnimal
Bubo virginianus  Canada 6🦉

Photo: brendan.lally · CC BY 2.0

SpeciesStrigiformesStrigidae
Birds

🦉Great Horned Owl

Bubo virginianus (J.F.Gmelin, 1788)

The great horned owl, also known as the tiger owl or the hoot owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an extremely adaptable bird with a vast range and is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas. Its diet consists primarily of rabbits and hares, rats and mice, and voles; it remains one of the few regular predators of skunk. Hunting also includes rodents, larger mid-sized mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
59
Photos
3
Measurements
12
vs you
≈ 1/46th of your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2018.

Population trendStable
Key measurements
Body mass
1.35 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
29 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Great Horned Owl

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
1.35 kg
AVONET
Other figures ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 1.19 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Tail length
0.2 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Wing length
0.37 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Beak length
0.04 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Tarsus length
0.08 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
29 years
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Gestation
27 days
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Litter size
about 3
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
Carnivore
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Habitat
Forest
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Lifestyle
Insessorial
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
1.4 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Great Horned Owl yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classAves
  4. ›orderStrigiformes
  5. ›familyStrigidae
  6. ›genusBubo
  7. ›speciesBubo virginianus
Full lineage
  1. orderSauria
  2. classBirds · Aves
  3. orderOwls · Strigiformes
  4. familyStrigidae
All 11 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. classBirds · Aves
  10. orderOwls · Strigiformes
  11. familyStrigidae
More

More about the Great Horned Owl

In other languages
Bubo virginianus (es), Duc americà (ca), výr virginský (cs), Amerikansk Stor Hornugle (da), Virginia-Uhu (de), amerikanhuuhkaja (fi) … and 25 more languages

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