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Horned owls are distinguished by two tufts or horns of feathers placed on each side of their head.

Great Horned Owl

Horned owls are distinguished by two tufts or horns of feathers placed on each side of their head.

Burton bore Sable a chevron sable between three silver owls.

Burton

Burton bore Sable a chevron sable between three silver owls.

Owls are found on nearly every continent.

Owl

Owls are found on nearly every continent.

A pair of great American horned owls, sitting on the ground.

Great American Horned Owls

A pair of great American horned owls, sitting on the ground.

A pair of American barn-owls, one of which is grasping a small rodent in its claws.

American Barn Owl

A pair of American barn-owls, one of which is grasping a small rodent in its claws.

"The owl is a popular name for any nocturnal, raptorial bird, of which about 200 species are known. Their classification is in a very unsettled state. Willoughby's division into two sections– one having 'ears' or 'horns,' as the tufts of feathers on their heads were called, the other destitute of such appendages– was shown to be unnatural by Geoffroy St. Hilaire. The prevailing color of the plumage is brown, with a tinge of rusty-red, and it is exceedingly loose and soft, so that their flight (even in the larger species) is almost noiseless, enabling them to swoop upon their prey, which they hunt in the twilight. All owls cast up in the form of pellets the indigestible parts of the food swallowed. These castings may be seen under any owl-roost, and show plainly the great service these birds render to man in destroying rats and mice. They range over the whole globe."—(Charles Leonard-Stuart, 1911)

Rock Owl

"The owl is a popular name for any nocturnal, raptorial bird, of which about 200 species are known.…

"The owl is a popular name for any nocturnal, raptorial bird, of which about 200 species are known. Their classification is in a very unsettled state. Willoughby's division into two sections– one having 'ears' or 'horns,' as the tufts of feathers on their heads were called, the other destitute of such appendages– was shown to be unnatural by Geoffroy St. Hilaire. The prevailing color of the plumage is brown, with a tinge of rusty-red, and it is exceedingly loose and soft, so that their flight (even in the larger species) is almost noiseless, enabling them to swoop upon their prey, which they hunt in the twilight. All owls cast up in the form of pellets the indigestible parts of the food swallowed. These castings may be seen under any owl-roost, and show plainly the great service these birds render to man in destroying rats and mice. They range over the whole globe."—(Charles Leonard-Stuart, 1911)

Great Snow Owl

"The owl is a popular name for any nocturnal, raptorial bird, of which about 200 species are known.…

A border of owls and books

Owls

A border of owls and books

A bird of the harriers, having an incomplete facial disk and large ear pars, as in some owls, a week toothless bill, and lengthened wings, tail and legs.

Marsh Hawk

A bird of the harriers, having an incomplete facial disk and large ear pars, as in some owls, a week…

Owls can be found in all parts of the world, some as short as five inches long while others are as large as two feet.

Owl

Owls can be found in all parts of the world, some as short as five inches long while others are as large…

The American horned owls and the Old World eagle-owls make up the genus Bubo, at least as traditionally circumscribed. This genus, depending on definition, contains about one or two dozen species of typical owls (family Strigidae) and occurs in many parts of the world. Some of the largest living Strigiformes are in Bubo. Traditionally, only owls with ear-tufts were included here, but this is now known to be wrong.

Great Horned Owl

The American horned owls and the Old World eagle-owls make up the genus Bubo, at least as traditionally…

"Speotyto cunicularia, the Burrowing Owl, a comparatively long-legged and short -winged bird with incomplete facial discs and unfeathered toes, is umber-brown varied with yellowish and white, the lower parts becoming lighter." A. H. Evans

Two Burrowing Owls by the Mountains

"Speotyto cunicularia, the Burrowing Owl, a comparatively long-legged and short -winged bird with incomplete…

The Northern Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium gnoma) is an owl in the Strigidae family of true owls.

Northern Pygmy Owl

The Northern Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium gnoma) is an owl in the Strigidae family of true owls.

"Fig. 46. - Raptorial foot of a hawk, Accipiter cooperi. The raptorial is another modification of the insessorial foot. It is advantageous to a bird of pray to be able to spread the toes as widely as possible, that the talons may seize pray like a set of grappling irons; and accordingly the toes are widely divergent from each other, the outer one in the owls and a few hawks being quite versatile. In a raptorial character, the toes are cleft profoundly, or, if united at base, it is by movable webbing; the claws are immensely developed and the under-surfaces of the toes are scabrous or bulbous for greater security of the object grasped." Elliot Coues, 1884

The Raptorial Foot of a Hawk

"Fig. 46. - Raptorial foot of a hawk, Accipiter cooperi. The raptorial is another modification of the…

"Fig. 47. - Raptorial foot of an owl, The raptorial is another modification of the insessorial foot. It is advantageous to a bird of pray to be able to spread the toes as widely as possible, that the talons may seize pray like a set of grappling irons; and accordingly the toes are widely divergent from each other, the outer one in the owls and a few hawks being quite versatile. In a raptorial character, the toes are cleft profoundly, or, if united at base, it is by movable webbing; the claws are immensely developed and the under-surfaces of the toes are scabrous or bulbous for greater security of the object grasped." Elliot Coues, 1884

The Raptorial Foot of an Owl

"Fig. 47. - Raptorial foot of an owl, The raptorial is another modification of the insessorial foot.…

"Scops. Little Horned Owls. Screech Owls. Like the miniature Bubo in form (all our species under a foot long). Skull and ear-parts symmetrical; latter small, simply elliptical, with rudimentry operculum; facial disc moderately developed; plumicorns evident; nostrils at edge of cere, which is not inflated, and shorter than the rest of the culmen. Wings rounded, but long, about twice the length of the short rounded tail, about to the end which they fold; in our species the 4th and 5th primaries longest, the 1st quite short; 3 or 4 outer primaries sinuate or emarginate on inner webs. Tarsus feathered (in our species), but toes only partly bristly (in the S. asio group) or quite naked (as in S. Flammeola). Plumage dichromatic in some cases; i.e. some individuals of the same species normally mottled gray, while others are reddish, the two phases very distinct when fully developed, but shading insensibly into each other, and entirely independent of age, season, or sex. In normal plumage, a white or whitish scapular stripe; lower parts with lengthwise blotches or shaft-lines and crosswise bars or waves of blackish or dark colors; upper parts with black or blackish shaft-lines on a finely-dappled brown or gray ground (more or less obliterated in the red phase); facial disc black-bordered nearly all around; wing-quills spotted or marbled on outer webs, barred on inner webs. Tail with light and dark bars. A large and nearly cosmopolitan genus, especially rich in tropical species; but only two are known to inhabit N. Am. one of them running into several local races very difficult to characterize satisfactorily." Elliot Coues, 1884

Screech Owls

"Scops. Little Horned Owls. Screech Owls. Like the miniature Bubo in form (all our species under a foot…

"Aluco flammeus pratincola. Barn Owl. above, including upper surfaces of wings and tail, tawny, fulvous, or orange-brown delicately clouded or marbled with ashy and white, and dotted with blackish, sometimes also with white; suck marking resolved, or tending to resolve, into four or five bars of dark mottling on the wings and tail. below, including lining of wings, varying from pure white to tawny, ochrey, or fulvous, but usually paler than the upper parts and dotted with small but distinct blackish specks. Face varying from white to fulvous or purplish-brown, in some shades as if stained with claret, usually quite dark or even black. About the eyes, and the border of the disc, dark brown. Thus extremely variable in tone of coloration, but the pattern more constant, while the generic characters render the bird unmistakable. Nestlings are covered with fluffy white down." Elliot Coues, 1884

Small Barn Owls

"Aluco flammeus pratincola. Barn Owl. above, including upper surfaces of wings and tail, tawny, fulvous,…

An adult owl being mobbed by a group of smaller birds. Mobbing occurs when smaller birds, in fear, will swarm in an attack other birds.

The Mobbing of an Owl

An adult owl being mobbed by a group of smaller birds. Mobbing occurs when smaller birds, in fear, will…

Scops. Little Horned Owls. Screech Owls. Like the miniature Bubo in form (all our species under a foot long). Skull and ear-parts symmetrical; latter small, simply elliptical, with rudimentry operculum; facial disc moderately developed; plumicorns evident; nostrils at edge of cere, which is not inflated, and shorter than the rest of the culmen. Wings rounded, but long, about twice the length of the short rounded tail, about to the end which they fold; in our species the 4th and 5th primaries longest, the 1st quite short; 3 or 4 outer primaries sinuate or emarginate on inner webs. Tarsus feathered (in our species), but toes only partly bristly (in the S. asio group) or quite naked (as in S. Flammeola). Plumage dichromatic in some cases; i.e. some individuals of the same species normally mottled gray, while others are reddish, the two phases very distinct when fully developed, but shading insensibly into each other, and entirely independent of age, season, or sex. In normal plumage, a white or whitish scapular stripe; lower parts with lengthwise blotches or shaft-lines and crosswise bars or waves of blackish or dark colors; upper parts with black or blackish shaft-lines on a finely-dappled brown or gray ground (more or less obliterated in the red phase); facial disc black-bordered nearly all around; wing-quills spotted or marbled on outer webs, barred on inner webs. Tail with light and dark bars. A large and nearly cosmopolitan genus, especially rich in tropical species; but only two are known to inhabit N. Am. one of them running into several local races very difficult to characterize satisfactorily." Elliot Coues, 1884

Screech Owl

Scops. Little Horned Owls. Screech Owls. Like the miniature Bubo in form (all our species under a foot…

"Asio accipitrinus. Short-eared Owl. Marsh Owl. Ear-tufts inconspicuous, much shorter than middle toe and claw, few-feathered. First and 2d primaries emarginate on inner webs. Above, completely variegated, chiefly in streaks, with fulvous or tawny, and dark brown; breast much the same, but other under parts paler ochrey, usually bleaching on the belly, which in sparely but sharply streaked (never barred) with dark brown; feet pale tawny or whitish, usually immaculate; lining of wings interruptedly whitish. Wing-quills varied, mostly in large pattern, and tail pretty regularly barred (about 5 bars) with the two colors of the upper parts. Facial area white or nearly so, but with a large black eye-patch; the disc minutely speckled with fulvous and blackish, bordered with white internally and usually having a blackish patch behind the ear; radiating feathers of the oper-culum streaked with blackish and fulvous. Iris bright yellow; bill and claws dusky-bluish; the naked granular soles yellowish. The ear-opening of this species is extremely large, being two inches or more across the longest way." Elliot Coues, 1884

Short-eared Owl

"Asio accipitrinus. Short-eared Owl. Marsh Owl. Ear-tufts inconspicuous, much shorter than middle toe…

"Surnia funerea. American Hawk Owl. Day Owl. Bill and eyes yellow; claws brownish-black. Upper parts bistre-brown, darkest and almost blackish on the head, where profusely spotted with small round white mark, to which succeeds a nuchal interval less spotted or free from spots, then an area of larger and lengthened spots; scapulars profusely spotted with white in large pattern, forming a scapular bar as in Scops; back and wing-coverts more or less spotted with white also; primaries and secondaries with with white spots in pairs on opposite edges of the feathers. Tail broken-barred with white or pale gray, usually narrowly and distinctly, on one or both webs, and tipped with the same; but there is great individual variation in this respect, as may also be said of the amount and character of the spotting of the upper parts. Under parts from the breast backward, including the crissum, closely and regularly cross-barred with rich reddish-brown, or even reddish-brown, or even reddish-black, upon a white ground, the alternating bars of color usually of about equal widths - if anything, the white the broadest.

Hawk Owl

"Surnia funerea. American Hawk Owl. Day Owl. Bill and eyes yellow; claws brownish-black. Upper parts…

"Nyctala - Saw-whet Owls. Skull and ear-parts highly unsymmetrical, the the latter of great size, and fully operculate. Head very large (as in Strix), without plumicorns; facial disc complete, with centric eye. Nostril at edge of the cere, which is inflated or not. Tail from 1/2 to 2/3rds as long as the wing, rounded. Third and 4th primaries longest; 1st quite short; 2 or 3 emarginate on inner webs. Feet thickly and closely feathered to the claws. In this interesting genus the ear-parts are of great size, and reach the extreme of asymmetry, the whole skull seeming misshapen." Glaucidium. Gnome Owls. Sparrow Owls. Pygmy owls. Size very small. Head perfectly smooth; no plumicorns; ear-parts small, non-operculate; facial disc very incomplete, the eye not centric. Nostril circular, opening in the tumid cere; bill robust. Tarsus fully and closely feathered, but toes only bristly for the most part. Wings short and much rounded, the 4th primary longest, the 1st quite short, the 3 outer ones emarginate, and next one or two sinuate. Tail long, about 3/4ths as long as the wing, even or nearly so. Claws strong, much curved. A large genus of very small owls, mostly of tropical countries. The numerous species, chiefly of warm parts of America, are in dire confusion, but the only two known to inhabit N. Am. are well determined. The plumage of many or most species is dichromatic, as in Scops, there being a red and a gray phase independently of age, season, or sex; but the red is not known to occur in our G. gnoma. The upper parts are marked with spots or lines; bars, or rows of spots, cross the wings and tail; the under parts are streaked; there is a cervical collar." Elliot Coues, 1884

Saw-whet and Sparrow Owls

"Nyctala - Saw-whet Owls. Skull and ear-parts highly unsymmetrical, the the latter of great size, and…

"Speotyto. Burrowing Owls. tarsi long, about twice as long as the middle toe without its claw, very scant-feathered in front, bare behind; toes bristly. The long slim legs are quite peculiar.

The Beaks and Claws of a Burrowing Owl

"Speotyto. Burrowing Owls. tarsi long, about twice as long as the middle toe without its claw, very…

"Aluco flammeus pratincola. Barn Owl. above, including upper surfaces of wings and tail, tawny, fulvous, or orange-brown delicately clouded or marbled with ashy and white, and dotted with blackish, sometimes also with white; suck marking resolved, or tending to resolve, into four or five bars of dark mottling on the wings and tail. below, including lining of wings, varying from pure white to tawny, ochrey, or fulvous, but usually paler than the upper parts and dotted with small but distinct blackish specks. Face varying from white to fulvous or purplish-brown, in some shades as if stained with claret, usually quite dark or even black. About the eyes, and the border of the disc, dark brown. Thus extremely variable in tone of coloration, but the pattern more constant, while the generic characters render the bird unmistakable. Nestlings are covered with fluffy white down." Elliot Coues, 1884

Barn Owls

"Aluco flammeus pratincola. Barn Owl. above, including upper surfaces of wings and tail, tawny, fulvous,…

"Speotyto cunicularia hypogae'a. Burrowing Owl. Adult: Above, dull grayish-brown, profusely spotted with whitish; the markings mostly rounded and paired on each feather, but anteriorly lengthened. Quills with 4-6 whitish bars, entire or broken into cross-rows of spots; tail-feathers similarly marked. There is much individual variation in the tone of the ground-color, and size and number of the spots, which may also be rather ochrey than whitish. Superciliary line, chin, and throat, white, the two latter separated by a dark brown jugular collar; auruculars brown; facial bristles black-shafted. Under parts white or pale ochrey, the breast, belly, and sides barred with traverse spots of brown, in a pretty regular manner; legs and under tail-coverts unmarked. Lining of wings tawny-white, dusky-spotted on the primary coverts." Elliot Coues, 1884

Burrowing Owl

"Speotyto cunicularia hypogae'a. Burrowing Owl. Adult: Above, dull grayish-brown, profusely spotted…

"Circinae. Harriers. Face surrounded with an incomplete ruff (as in most owls); orifice of ear about as large as the eye, and in some cases at least with a decided conch (in this picture). Bill rather weak, not toothed or notched. Bill thickly beset with many curved radiating bristles surpassing in length the cere, which is large and tumid; tomia lobed or festooned, but neither toothed nor notched. Nostrils ovate-oblong, nearly horizontal. Superciliary shield prominent. Tarsus long and slender, scutellate before and mostly so behind, reticulate laterally; toes slender, the middle with its claw much shorter than the tarsus; a basal web between the outer and middle; all tuberculate underneath; Claws very large and sharp, much curved. Wings very long and ample; 3d and 4th quills longest; 1st shorter than 6th; outer 3-5 (in our species 4) emarginate on inner webs; 2d-5th emarginate on outer webs. Tail very long, about 2/3rds as long as the wing, nearly even or rounded, the folded wings falling short of its end. " Elliot, Coues, 1884

Harrier Ear Parts

"Circinae. Harriers. Face surrounded with an incomplete ruff (as in most owls); orifice of ear about…

<i>Nyctea scandiaca</i>." The great white or snowy owl, <i>Strix nyctea</i> or <i>Nyctea scandiaca</i>, inhabiting arctic and northerly regions of both hemispheres, and having the plumage more or less white." &mdash;Whitney, 1889

Snow Owl

Nyctea scandiaca." The great white or snowy owl, Strix nyctea or Nyctea scandiaca, inhabiting arctic…