Eurasian eagle-owl

Bubo bubo · One of the largest owls, with orange eyes and long ear tufts, found across Europe and Asia.

Also called Northern Eagle Owl.

Eurasian eagle-owl
Photo: Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 4.0
Eurasian eagle-owl
Photo: Alvesgaspar, CC BY-SA 4.0
Eurasian eagle-owl
Photo: Carsten Steger, CC BY-SA 4.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassAves
OrderStrigiformes
FamilyStrigidae
GenusBubo
SpeciesBubo bubo

Where it lives

Mountains, forests and deserts from Spain and Scandinavia to Siberia and China.

Fun facts

  • In June 2007, an eagle-owl landed in a Helsinki stadium during a football match, and the game was paused for six minutes.
  • Finland's national football team is nicknamed Huuhkajat, which is Finnish for Eurasian eagle-owls.
  • Tame eagle-owls have been used in pest control to scare large birds such as gulls away from nesting.
  • The German name for this owl, uhu, comes from the sound of its deep song.

Play it

The Eurasian eagle-owl was the creature in Birder on November 6, 2026. Can you identify tomorrow's from its photos? Every day brings a new creature to place from kingdom to genus, map and name.

Play today's creature or replay a past daily

Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).