Great Gray Owl

Great Gray Owl

Other Names

• Cárabo Lapón (Spanish)
• Chouette lapone (French)

Basic Description

The Great Gray Owl is a dapper owl dressed in a gray suit with a bow tie across its neck and a surprised look on its face. In the stillness of a cold mountain meadow, this elusive giant quietly floats on broad wings across meadows and openings in evergreen forests. They are mostly owls of the boreal forest with small populations in western mountains, but in some years they move farther south in search of food, giving some a unique opportunity to see this majestic owl.

 

• Cool Facts
  • Although the Great Gray Owl is one of the tallest owls in the U.S., it’s just a ball of feathers. Both the Great Horned Owl and Snowy Owl weigh more than a Great Gray Owl and they have larger feet and talons.
  • Great Gray Owls aren’t just North American owls. They also live in Scandinavia, Russia, Siberia, and Mongolia.
  • Great Gray Owls are powerful birds. Despite weighing only 2.5 pounds, they can break through hard packed snow to grab a small mammal. One bird reportedly broke through snow that was hard enough to support a 176-pound human.
  • Great Gray Owls are big owls, which means that they need to eat regularly. In the winter, they eat up to 7 vole-sized small mammals every day.
  • Both the common and scientific names are apt for this large gray owl. The Latin name for Great Gray Owl is Strix nebulosa. Strix means to utter shrill sounds and nebulosa means misty or cloudy, referring to its gray color.
  • Imagine what it would be like if you could hear even the slightest noise and knew exactly where the noise was coming from. Well, that is exactly what Great Gray Owls can do. Like the Barn Owl and Long-eared Owl they have asymmetrical ear openings that help them find prey by sound alone. The left ear opening is higher on the head than the right ear opening which enables precise directional hearing and lets them nab invisible prey.
  • The oldest recorded Great Gray Owl was at least 18 years, 9 months old and lived in Alberta, where it was banded in 1996 and found in 2013, after being hit by a car.

   

  Habitat: 

  In Canada, Great Grays spend the year in dense, wet evergreen forests of the far north, also known as taiga, where they hunt in meadows, bogs, or other open areas with a few scattered trees. In the United States, they use pine and fir forests adjacent to montane meadows between 2,500 and 7,500 feet. In California and Oregon during the winter months, owls often move downslope into oak woodlands and lower elevation mixed deciduous and evergreen forests.

  Food:

  Small mammals such as voles, pocket gophers, mice, moles, chipmunks, and lemmings make up the majority of their diet. They hunt at night and during the day from perches where they listen intently for small mammals moving under the snow. Once they detect a small mammal they hover above the snow, and plunge talons first into the snow to grab it.

   

  Behavior:

  Great Gray Owls are active at night and at dusk and dawn. They also hunt during the day, especially when they have nestlings or during the winter months. They forage in meadows where voles and other small mammals are abundant. In northern Europe, the Rocky Mountains, and the central Cascades of Oregon they also forage in clearcuts that have a few remaining trees for perching. They glide low over these open areas with slow and quiet wingbeats listening and looking for small mammals. They have excellent hearing and can find prey by hearing alone—even under a thick cover of snow—thanks to asymmetrical ear openings that help them triangulate sound with great precision. Males and females form pairs during the breeding season, but they don’t stay together during the nonbreeding season. Males and females defend their nest sites from other owls and raptors. The first line of defense is a threatening display. They spread their facial feathers to expose their bill, which they fiercely snap, drop their wings, or hoot to shun the intruder. If that doesn’t work, they may escalate territory defense to chasing and sometimes attacking the intruder. Most owls are year-round residents, but sometimes they move farther south in search of food. Populations in California and Oregon, in most winters, move to lower elevations areas with reduced snowpack.

   

  Data Source: allaboutbirds