Great Horned Owl

The most powerful owl in the Americas, the Great Horned Owl takes an extraordinary range of prey — rabbits, skunks, and rodents, along with birds up to the size of other raptors, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Mottled grey-brown with heavy barring, prominent ear tufts, yellow eyes, and a white throat patch, it presents a famously fierce aspect. It occupies forests, deserts, swamps, and suburban parks from subarctic Canada to Tierra del Fuego, nesting in tree hollows, on cliff ledges, and in the abandoned nests of other large birds. One to four eggs are incubated for 30 to 37 days, with young fledging near 70 days. Its deep, resonant hooting — a rhythmic territorial duet between mated pairs — booms at dusk, the female pitched slightly higher than the male. It is listed as Least Concern.