The great horned owl a3

The great horned owl is generally colored for camouflage.[5] The underparts of the species are usually light with some brown horizontal barring; the... more

by John Straton

Title

The great horned owl a3

Artist

John Straton

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Photograph

Description

The great horned owl is generally colored for camouflage.[5] The underparts of the species are usually light with some brown horizontal barring; the upper parts and upper wings are generally a mottled brown usually baring heavy, complex darker markings. All subspecies are darkly barred to some extent along the sides as well. There is a variable sized white patch on the throat. The white throat may continue as a streak running down the middle of the breast even when the birds are not displaying, which in particularly pale individuals can widen at the belly into a large white area. South American horned owls typically have a smaller white throat patch, often unseen unless actively displaying, and rarely display the white area on the chest. This species' "horns" are neither ears nor horns, simply tufts of feathers. Ear tufts are shared by all members of its genus, as well as almost exactly half of all the more than 200 living owl species, but are absent in the African fishing owls (which are still sometimes treated separately in the genus Scotopelia). The snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus) has vestigial ear-tufts which usually are not visible (the tufts of the snowy measure up to 20 mm (0.79 in) when erected, less than half the length of the ear tufts of a northern great horned owl) and many other "eared" owl species, unlike the great horned, can appear tuft-less when relaxed such as many of the nearly 70 species of Old World scops owls and New World screech owls (2 species from the latter genera completely lack ear tufts). The purpose of ear tufts is not fully understood, although the theory that they serve as a visual cue in territorial and socio-sexual interactions with other owls is now generally considered more valid than other theories such as they are designed to mimic mammalian carnivores or provide camouflage.[4]

All great horned owls have a facial disc, which (although not as deep set as some Strix and Aegolius species) is well demarked due to a dark rim which culminates in bold, blackish brackets at the sides of the disc. The facial disc may be reddish, brown or gray in color, showing considerable geographic, racial and individual variation.[6] There are individual and regional variations in overall color as well; birds from the subarctic are a washed-out, light-buff color, while those from the Pacific Coast of North America, Central America and much of South America can be a dark brownish color overlaid with blackish blotching. The skin of the feet and legs, though almost entirely obscured by feathers, is black. The bill is dark gunmetal-gray, as are the talons.[7]

The great horned owl is the heaviest extant owl in Central and South America and is the second heaviest owl in North America, after the closely related but very different looking snowy owl.[5][7] However, the great horned owl is quite variable in size across its range. Clinal variation in size, more-or-less well studied in North America among the less variable measurements of skeleton, with interior Alaska and Ontario populations being largest and populations in California and Texas being smallest, though those from the Yucat�n Peninsula and Baja California appear to be even smaller.[8][9] Overall, adult great horned owls range in length from 43 to 64 cm (17 to 25 in) and possess a wingspan of 91 to 153 cm (3 ft 0 in to 5 ft 0 in).[10][11] Females are invariably somewhat larger than males. 1761 specimens (mainly museum specimens) of all North American subspecies were found to possess a mean weight of 1,608 g (3.545 lb) for the females and 1,224 g (2.698 lb) for the males.[12][13] Depending on subspecies, the great horned owl can weigh from 680 to 2,503 g (1.499 to 5.518 lb), with more details on the weights of the races given below.[14] An average adult between both sexes in North America measures around 55 cm (22 in) long with a 122 cm (48 in) wingspan and weighs about 1.4 kg (3.1 lb).[15]

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October 18th, 2015