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| Common Name: | Eurasian eagle owl | Family: | Strigidae |
| Latin Name: | Bubo bubo | Diet: | Carnivore |
| Type: | Bird | Habitat: | Woodlands |
| Native To: | Europe, Asia | Social Unit: | Individual or pairs |
| IUCN Red List Status: | Least concern |
Eurasian eagle owls at Edinburgh Zoo & the Highland Wildlife Park
This bird can be seen both at Edinburgh Zoo and the Highland Wildlife Park, Edinburgh Zoo's sister park in Kingussie.
Edinburgh Zoo has one Eurasian Eagle owl. Tango is a male owl and weighs just under 2 kilos. He was born in 1996 and kept by someone as a pet. Owls do not make good pets and he soon became too big. His owner realised that he was in unsuitable conditions and so Raptor Rescue placed him at the Zoo in 2002.
Tango never developed the required muscles for proper flight, and so he now comes out into the Zoo especially to meet the visitors. He also takes part in school classes. At the Zoo Tango eats mice, rats, chicks and sometimes quail. His favourite food is rats.
At the Highland Wildlife Park, there are two eagle owls. Listen out for the male’s call - a deep, throaty, reverberating “ooohuh” repeated six or seven times a minute. On a quiet night, it can be heard over distances of up to one mile.
Where it can be found at Edinburgh Zoo & the Highland Wildlife Park
At Edinburgh Zoo, Tango can sometimes be seen in the Animal Antics show.
At the Highland Wildlife Park, there are two eagle owls on display in the Forest Habitat.
Eurasian eagle owls in the wild
The Eurasian eagle owl (Bubo bubo) is a giant of an owl. It weighs up to 2.5–3kg and has a wingspan of 155-175 cm. These owls have beautiful markings and huge gleaming orange eyes as well as prominent ears with a flap of skin at the front which can be raised to enable the bird to hear sounds from behind. In addition, they can rotate their heads through 360 degrees, which gives them an unrivalled field of vision.
Almost anything that moves is fair game for this adaptable and opportunistic hunter. It is capable of swooping upon all manner of creatures its own size, such as the capercaillie, with which it shares the evergreen forests of Europe. The eagle owl will also prey on other predatory birds in its hunting grounds, such as tawny owls and buzzards and occasionally it will kill more powerful birds such as snowy owls. One bird was once seen carrying a full-grown red fox in its talons!
Active at night soon after sunset, the owl spends its day roosting under cover either in a tree, on the ground under a dense bush or on a sheltered rock ledge. Almost any habitat suits the eagle owl although it prefers areas with lots of prey species and plenty of hiding places. They prefer to hunt in the open but will also frequent forests. They wait for prey by sitting on a lookout post, rock or tree, watching for signs of movement. If they are unable to eat all their prey at once, they may bury it in a hollow and return the next day.
Eagle owls pair for life and the male continues to feed the female and the young after the eggs have hatched while the female remains on the nest. They use few materials to build their nest, preferring the shelter of a rock crevice or an overhang. In forests, they will also nest in ground cover among tree roots or under fallen trunks. Occasionally recorded in Scotland as vagrants, eagle owls are non-migratory and territorial birds.
IUCN Red List category: Least Concern
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