Eurasian eagle-owl

The Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo) is a very large strigid, among the largest living owls, 56–75 cm long with a 160–188 cm wingspan; females reach 75 cm and about 4.6 kg. It is blackish-brown and tawny above, buff and streaked below, with two long ear tufts. The species ranges over about 50 million square kilometres of Eurasia, from western Europe to the Russian Far East, occupying rocky gorges, loess cliffs, conifer forest and steppe to 4,000 m. Rodents, hares, hedgehogs and birds are hunted at dusk and dawn. The IUCN lists it Least Concern.