Birdpass
English
Ural Owl

Ural Owl

Strix uralensis

Identify the Ural Owl by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

  • Download on the App Store
  • Get it on Google Play

The Ural Owl is a large, pale grey-brown owl with a round head and an unusually long, wedge-shaped tail. It ranges across northern Eurasia from northern Europe and the Carpathians to Russia, Sakhalin and Japan, living in taiga and mixed forests. It feeds mainly on voles, and breeding success follows vole cycles. It readily uses nest boxes and is famously fierce at the nest.

Did you know?

  • It is named after the Ural Mountains but ranges from northern Europe to Japan.
  • Researchers checking its nests often wear helmets because it attacks intruders.

Voice

Song
Call
Alarm call

About the species

Identification

A large grey-brown owl with clear dark streaks on the pale underparts and dark bars on the wings and long tail. Its round, pale facial disc, small black eyes and yellow bill stand out. It is clearly larger and longer-tailed than Tawny Owl and smaller than Great Grey Owl, which has a ringed face and yellow eyes.

Family

Strigidae

Size

Large (crow)

Colours

grey, brown, white, black

About the habitat

Mature coniferous and mixed forest with clearings, edges, wooded swamps and river valleys, with large trees or nest boxes for nesting.

Diet

Mainly voles and other small mammals, as well as shrews, birds, frogs and large insects.

Behaviour

A perch-and-pounce hunter active at dusk and night, but often by day in the breeding season. It flies with deep, relaxed wingbeats, rather like a buzzard. Pairs hold territories year-round and nest in large tree holes, broken stubs, old stick nests or nest boxes. Adults defend the nest boldly, swooping at intruders, and researchers wear head protection.

Sources

Photo: Jyrki Salmi from Finland, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Strix uralensis, Kotka, Finland 1.jpg

Sound: Robert Petersen, XC986003, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/986003

Sound: Robert Petersen, XC986010, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/986010

Sound: Alexander Kürthy, XC314566, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/314566

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ural_owl

See also