Where can you find a Eurasian eagle-owl?
Dietary biology of the Eurasian eagle-owl
In rare cases, other predators may kill a Eurasian eagle-owl. In Europe, there is one case of a white-tailed eagle killing an eagle-owl and there are at least four known incidents of eagle-owls being killed by golden eagles. Also, an eagle-owl was found among the prey remains at a golden eagle eyrie in Mongolia. An eagle-owl was also found amongst the prey in the nest of steppe eagles ("Aquila nipalensis") in Altai Krai, Russia. In 2016, a large female subadult Bonelli's eagle ("Aquila fasciata") apparently preyed upon a three-year-old male Eurasian eagle-owl in Spain. Pine martens ("Martes martes") and stone martens ("Martes foina") are opportunistic nest predators. Although martens could probably reach most eagle-owl nests due to their agility and climbing abilities, they probably will attack nests when disturbance or low food supply result in lower nest attendance by the parent owls. Cases where nests have atypically been accessible on foot (for both humans and wild predators) have resulted in Eurasian eagle-owl nests being predated. Eurasian badgers, wild boars and raccoon dogs and raccoons, the latter two both where non-native in Germany, have also reportedly preyed on nests that they can access. In coastal areas of Spain, red foxes were reported to have preyed on four eagle-owls, including one unsexed brooding adult, at nests found to be reachable on foot by researchers. Cases of red foxes killing Eurasian eagle-owls at nests have reported elsewhere albeit very rarely, normally the eagle-owl is a greater danger to the foxes (and many of its other nest predators) than vice versa. In May 2017, a red fox was filmed killing two chicks and raiding the larder of an eagle-owl in Denmark.
Eurasian otter
In Asia, it is listed as endangered in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand, and critically endangered in Mongolia.
Eurasian teal
Altogether, the Eurasian teal is much less common than its American counterpart, though still very plentiful. Its numbers are mainly assessed by counts of wintering birds; some 750,000 are recorded annually around the Mediterranean and Black Seas, 250,000 in temperate western Europe, and more than 110,000 in Japan. In 1990 and 1991, a more detailed census was undertaken, yielding over 210,000 birds wintering in Iran, some 109,000 in Pakistan, about 77,000 in Azerbaijan, some 37,000 in India, 28,000 in Israel, over 14,000 in Turkmenistan and almost 12,000 in Taiwan. It appears to be holding its own currently, with its slow decline of maybe 1–2% annually in the 1990s – presumably mainly due to drainage and pollution of wetlands – not warranting action other than continuing to monitor the population and possibly providing better protection for habitat on the wintering grounds. The IUCN and BirdLife International classify the Eurasian teal as a species of Least Concern, unchanged from their assessment before the split of the more numerous "A. carolinensis".
Eurasian woodcock
This species is the woodcock found through most of temperate and subarctic Eurasia. Northern and Asian populations migrate to southern Europe or the Indian Subcontinent, respectively. Birds in milder western European countries and on Atlantic islands are resident. The populations breeding in north-west and southern Europe are mostly sedentary. The birds' spring migration commences in February; breeding territories are reached between March and May.
The Eurasian woodcock has a large range, with an estimated Global Extent of Occurrence of 10 million square kilometres and a population of an estimated 15 million to 16 million birds. Because of its large range, stable population trend and large population size, the species has been evaluated as Least Concern. The most important threat to the population of the Eurasian woodcock in the breeding range is the increased fragmentation of its woodland habitat. At other times of year, a reduction in the amount of permanent grassland and an increase in the intensification of farming are also threats, and the species' susceptibility to avian influenza may have an impact in future.
Aegolius
Three of the extant species are restricted to the New World, but the boreal owl has a circumpolar range through North America, Eurasia, the Alps, and the Rockies.
Siberian flying squirrel
The Siberian flying squirrel ("Pteromys volans") is an Old World flying squirrel with a range from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Coast in the east. It is the only species of flying squirrel found in Europe. It is considered vulnerable within the European Union where it is now found only in Estonia, Finland and Latvia out of the 28 countries in the Union.
Ural owl
The Ural owl has an extended distribution area in Europe and Asia, from Sakhalin, Japan and Korea in the east to Scandinavia in the west. The northern border is at approximately 65 degrees north latitude, and the southern border follows the southern delimitation of the taiga. There are relict populations in the mountains of central Europe belonging to the subspecies "S. u. macroura". Birds in northeast Poland and Scandinavia belong to the subspecies "S. u. liturata", and those in western Siberia to the dominant race "S. u. uralensis".
Eurasian pygmy owl
This owl is crepuscular, being active during the daylight hours near sunrise and sunset.
White-tailed eagle
This eagle breeds in northern Europe and northern Asia. Their European range extends to as far west as southeastern Greenland, northern and eastern Iceland, and the reintroduced populations in some areas of Ireland and Scotland, particularly conserved coastal spots. In mainland Europe, often isolated outposts remain in coastal and western Norway (broadly), northern and southwestern Finland, eastern Sweden, southern Denmark (and some spots in the north), islands of the Baltic Sea, western Austria, northeastern Germany, northern and eastern Poland, the Czech Republic, much of the east Baltic countries, the non-montane areas of the Ukraine, eastern Slovenia, central and southern Hungary (and adjacent northeastern Croatia), very sporadically in Greece, the Danube sections of Romania and Bulgaria to the Black Sea and western and eastern Moldova. In Asia Minor, it only remains as a breeder in very sparse and small pockets of Turkey and Georgia, taken as a region there is likely to be fewer than 30 breeding pairs in this region. In the Middle East, the white-tailed eagle may still be found breeding only along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea in northern Iran and southwestern Turkmenistan. Discontinuously, they are found as residents in Kazakhstan where they live in a long strip of the southern part of the country starting at the Aral Sea and the northwestern portion (but not, as far as is known, breeding in the Kazakh part of the Caspian Sea coast). The only country in which the white-tailed eagle is found over a continuous and extremely large area is Russia. The species is found very broadly everywhere in Russia from European Russia in the west to the Bering Sea in the east, only being fully absent as a nester as far as is known from the high Arctic regions and a section bordering westernmost Kazakhstan, although it breeds to south of this in the Russian coastal part of the Caspian Sea. Their northern limits occur in Russia to the Ob river to 70 degrees north at the mouth of the Yenisei River and on the Gydan and Yamal Peninsulas, to the Kolyma, Indigirka and Lena rivers to above 72 degrees north, even to 75 degrees north on the Taymyr Peninsula. They are said to be common around the White Sea, reportedly even the most abundant bird of prey locally and found both on coasts and inland lakes, although breeding rates are low due to the frigid weather. From Russia, breeding populations spill somewhat into northernmost Mongolia, extreme northwestern China and northern North Korea. The white-tailed eagle also breeds on Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands and Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan.
Eurasian baskettail
It has been found in Western Europe, but here it is "rare and seen very irregularly". It has also been found in Serbia, and Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia. Its occurrence in Hungary is "sporadic". It also is found in Ukraine.
Ural owl
The Ural owl ("Strix uralensis") is a medium-sized nocturnal owl of the genus "Strix", with up to 15 subspecies found in Europe and northern Asia.
The Ural owl is smaller than the great grey owl, and much larger than the tawny owl, which it superficially resembles. Distinguishing features apart from the size are the pale, buffish grey-brown plumage, with copious dark brown streaking on the back of the head and underparts. It has a round head with plain buffish-grey facial discs, orange-yellow bill and small black eyes. The tail is long and wedge-shaped, with dark barring on the upper tail, and the wings are rounded. Flight is direct and purposeful, recalling that of the common buzzard. Sexes are similar, with no seasonal variation. Length can range and wingspan from . Weight in males is and in females is .
Eurasian siskin
These birds can be found throughout the year in Central Europe and some mountain ranges in the south of the continent. They are present in the north of Scandinavia and in Russia and they over-winter in the Mediterranean basin and the area around the Black Sea. In China they breed in the Khingan Mountains of Inner Mongolia and in Jiangsu province; they spend summer in Tibet, Taiwan, the valleys of the lower Yangtse River and the south east coast.
Eurasian stone-curlew
The Eurasian stone curlew occurs throughout Europe, north Africa and southwestern Asia. It is a summer migrant in the more temperate European and Asian parts of its range, wintering in Africa.
Eurasian jay
Eight racial groups (33 subspecies in total) are recognised by Madge & Burn (1994): Jena Phyletic Museum, in Germany, features an excellent display of plumage variations across these races, which is used as a particularly striking example of the variation that can be found within species.A member of the widespread jay group, and about the size of the jackdaw, it inhabits mixed woodland, particularly with oaks, and is a habitual acorn hoarder. In recent years, the bird has begun to migrate into urban areas, possibly as a result of continued erosion of its woodland habitat. Before humans began planting the trees commercially on a wide scale, Eurasian jays were the main source of movement and propagation for the English oak ("Q. robur"), each bird having the ability to spread more than a thousand acorns each year. Eurasian jays will also bury the acorns of other oak species, and have been cited by the National Trust as a major propagator of the largest population of Holm oak ("Q. ilex") in Northern Europe, situated in Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. Jays have been recorded carrying single acorns as far as 20 km, and are credited with the rapid northward spread of oaks following the last ice age.
Eurasian teal
The Eurasian teal or common teal ("Anas crecca") is a common and widespread duck which breeds in temperate Eurasia and migrates south in winter. The Eurasian teal is often called simply the teal due to being the only one of these small dabbling ducks in much of its range. The bird gives its name to the blue-green colour teal.
Eurasian beaver
The Eurasian beaver "Castor fiber" was once widespread in Europe and Asia but by the beginning of the 20th century both the numbers and range of the species had been drastically diminished, mainly due to hunting. At this time, the global population was estimated to be around 1,200 individuals, living in eight separate sub-populations. In 2008, however, the ICUN granted the Eurasian Beaver a status of least concern, with the justification that the species had recovered sufficiently with the help of global conservation programmes. Currently the largest numbers can be found across Europe, where reintroductions have been successful in 25 countries and conservation efforts are ongoing, however populations in Asia remain small and fragmented, and are under considerable threat.
Eurasian least shrew
The Eurasian least shrew inhabits the northern taiga region, and is found throughout Siberia, in northern Europe (Finland, northern Sweden and parts of Norway) and on the islands of Sakhalin and Hokkaidō. It can be found in diverse habitats, including both coniferous and deciduous forests, open fields, and the edges of bogs. The population density appears to be fairly low throughout, though its prevalence may be underestimated in surveys since its small size lets it escape many commonly used traps.
Eurasian eagle-owl
Besides the female being larger, there is little external sexual dimorphism in the Eurasian eagle-owl although the ear tufts of males reportedly tend to be more upright than those of females. When an eagle-owl is seen on its own in the field, it is generally not possible to distinguish the individual’s sex. Gender determination by size is possible via in hand measurements. Reportedly, in some populations the female may be slightly darker on average than the male. The plumage coloration across at least 13 accepted subspecies can be highly variable. The upper parts may be brown-black to tawny-buff to pale creamy gray, typically showing dense freckling on the forehead and crown, stripes on the nape, sides and back of the neck, and dark splotches on the pale ground colour of the back, mantle and scapulars. A narrow buff band, freckled with brown or buff, often runs up from the base of the bill, above the inner part of the eye and along the inner edge of the black-brown ear tufts. The rump and upper tail-coverts are delicately patterned with dark vermiculations and fine wavy barring, the extent of which varies with subspecies. The underwing coverts and undertail coverts are similar but tend to be more strongly barred in brownish-black. The primaries and secondaries are brown with broad dark brown bars and dark brown tips, and grey or buff irregular lines. A complete moult takes place each year between July and December. The facial disc is tawny-buff, speckled with black-brown, so densely on the outer edge of the disc as to form a "frame" around the face. The chin and throat are white with a brownish central streak. The feathers of the upper breast generally have brownish-black centres and reddish-brown edges except for the central ones which have white edges. The chin and throat may appear white continuing down the center of the upper breast. The lower breast and belly feathers are creamy-brown to tawny buff to off-white with a variable amount of fine dark wavy barring, on a tawny-buff ground colour. The legs and feet (which are feathered almost to the talons) are likewise marked on a buff ground colour but more faintly. The tail is tawny-buff, mottled dark grey-brown with about six black-brown bars. The bill and feet are black. The iris is most often orange but is fairly variable. In some European birds, the iris is a bright reddish, blood-orange colour but then in subspecies found in arid, desert-like habitats, the iris can range into an orange-yellow colour (most closely related species generally have yellowish irises, excluding the Indian eagle-owl).
Spot-bellied eagle-owl
This is a very powerful and bold predatory owl, which is assuredly at the top of the avian food chain in its forested range. However, no extensive study of its dietary habits is known. Even in larger eagle-owls such as the Eurasian eagle-owl, although they can and do prey on a wide range of prey including impressively large prey, most of the diet consists of small mammals, often small rodents such as voles and rats. There is no reason to assume that the spot-bellied eagle-owl does not also take a very large quantity of relatively small prey such as rodents until complete dietary studies are known. However, almost all of the prey thus far reported for this species is very large and impressive, much of it being presumably as heavy or heavier than the eagle-owls themselves. Due to being most widely reported as being chased and eaten by spot-bellied eagle-owls has led some authors to list their primary prey as pheasants. Among these, junglefowl ("Gallus" sp.) and kalij pheasants ("Lophura leucomelanos"), both weighing from , are commonly eaten, as well as Indian peafowl ("Pavo cristatus"), which can weigh anything from . The spot-bellied eagle-owl pounces on gamebirds while they're asleep on their perches in trees or bamboo clumps, often killing them in seconds with their powerful talons. Cases, where they've followed peafowl to their roosts and then pulled them out at sundown, have been reported. It also consumes an array of mammals, from small rodents to large prey such as apparent adults of golden jackals ("Canis aureus"), hares ("Lepus" ssp.), large Indian civets ("Viverra zibetha"), Indian spotted chevrotains ("Moschiola indica"), and even young muntjacs ("Muntiacus" sp.). These larger mammals are likely as much as or even more. While most reported prey appear to be largely terrestrial, they are known to capture arboreal prey including Indian giant squirrel ("Ratufa indica") and juvenile purple-faced langur ("Trachypithecus vetulus"). Additionally, they are considered a potential threat to toque monkeys ("Macaca sinica"), and one apparently caught an Indian flying fox ("Pteropus giganteus") from its tree roost. Due to the capture of diurnal prey such as giant squirrel, partial daytime foraging habits have been inferred for the spot-bellied eagle owl. They will also opportunistically prey upon snakes, lizards (including large monitor lizards) and fish. Like several of the eagle-owls and fish owls but unlike most owls, the spot-bellied eagle-owl has been recorded as feeding on carrion. Thus far, they've been seen feeding on the carcases of goats ("Capra aegagrus hircus") and tigers ("Panthera tigris").
Eurasian wren
In most of northern Europe and Asia, it nests mostly in coniferous forests, where it is often identified by its long and exuberant song. Although it is an insectivore, it can remain in moderately cold and even snowy climates by foraging for insects on substrates such as bark and fallen logs.
Eurasian eagle-owl
In Spain, incubation is from mid-January to mid-March, hatching and early nestling period is from late March to early April, fledging and post-fledging dependence can be anywhere from mid-April to August and territorial/courtship is anytime hereafter; i.e. the period between the beginning of juvenile dispersal to egg laying; from September to early January. The same general date parameters were followed in southern France. In the Italian Alps, the mean egg-laying date was similarly February 27 but the young were more likely to be dependent later, as all fledglings were still being cared for by the end of August and some even lingered under parental care until October.
Eurasian oystercatcher
The Eurasian oystercatcher ("Haematopus ostralegus") also known as the common pied oystercatcher, or palaearctic oystercatcher, or (in Europe) just oystercatcher, is a wader in the oystercatcher bird family Haematopodidae. It is the most widespread of the oystercatchers, with three races breeding in western Europe, central Eurasia, Kamchatka, China, and the western coast of Korea. No other oystercatcher occurs within this area.
Dietary biology of the Eurasian eagle-owl
In terms of sheer quantitative abundance, rodents are by far the most dominant prey group in the diet of the Eurasian eagle-owl. Roughly 130 species of rodent are known to have been taken by these owls. Due to their small sizes, however, rodent prey often comprise a relatively small portion of the prey biomass, excepting relatively large rodents such as rats and hamsters, some of which weigh at least . In many parts of Europe, the most numerous prey in dietary studies are the brown rat and the common vole, followed by the nearly as widespread field vole ("Microtus agrestis"). Among the areas where the common vole was the leading prey species included southern Sweden, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. In areas that have undergone more heavy development, the brown rat predominates, being the leading prey item in several parts of France including Côte-d'Or, Lozère and even the remote Pyrenees, Belgium, the Italian Alps, and Brașov, Romania. The brown rat is even the primary prey in Lebanon despite it being tied solely to human habitations as the environment is often too arid to allow it to survive further afield. Black rats ("Rattus rattus"), at , are also hunted but rarely in equal number to the generally more successful brown rats. In Norway and Finland, field voles were the most numerous prey species, per one study in the latter country it made up 30.1% of the food but only provided 3.3% of the prey biomass. The European water vole, averaging at , was the main prey species in Styria, Austria, although considerably secondary in biomass to hedgehogs, as well as in central Sweden. The water vole often the second or third most regularly found prey species in several other European studies. In Samara, Russia, the diet is dominated by the European water vole, although other species such as European hamsters ("Cricetus cricetus") and European hares ("Lepus europaeus") (both also significant prey there) probably outweigh them in biomass contribution. The common vole and European water vole together made up roughly 80% of the prey by number in the High Tatras of Slovenia and more than 60% of the diet in bordering Poland.
In the northern extremes of their range, Eurasian eagle-owls tend to have a less varied diet than those to the south and the need to catch significant numbers of rodents rises as they are often the only regularly accessible prey in sparse sub-Arctic environments. In northern Sweden, more than 60% of the food was made up of microtine rodents, i.e. the Norway lemming ("Lemmus lemmus"), the field vole, the European water vole and the grey red-backed vole ("Myodes rufocanus"). In one study from western Russia, rodents comprised more than 90% of the diet of the eagle-owls, led by the steppe lemming ("Lagurus lagurus") at 24% by number, the narrow-headed vole ("Microtus gregalis") at 21% and the European water vole at 17.9%. Similarly in high altitude tundra of the East Austrian Alps, nearly 90% of the food was found to be comprised by microtine rodents, the European snow vole ("Chionomys nivalis") being the most frequently identified species in the diet. In Spain, the Algerian mouse ("Mus spretus"), at up to 41.8% of the prey by number, and wood mouse ("Apodemus sylvaticus"), at up to 10.5% by number, are often regularly taken, especially in regions where rabbit numbers have declined. In Romania, the Romanian hamster ("Mesocricetus newtoni") and European hamster are the most prominent species found in the eagle-owl's diet, alongside the brown rat. The Romanian hamster is also dominated the prey list per a study in Bulgaria, only the European water vole follows distantly in number. Dormice are readily taken when available in Europe, especially the edible dormouse from central Europe to the eastern countries. In Slovenia, the edible dormouse was the most regularly-recorded prey species, making up 20.2% of the food but it comprised 9.4% of the biomass. The edible dormouse was also the most regular prey species in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Italy, making up 22.5% of the diet. The smaller garden dormouse ("Eliomys quercinus") and considerably smaller hazel dormouse ("Muscardinus avellanarius") are also occasionally predated in Europe, plus at least a half dozen other dormouse species in eastern Europe, Asia Minor and several points to the east.
Dietary biology of the Eurasian eagle-owl
While owls are apparently often killed by Eurasian eagle-owls while actively hunting, diurnal raptors are often ambushed at night at their large, conspicuous nests since they are easily located during hunting forays and the raptors are nearly defenseless in nocturnal conditions. The eagle-owl has been specified as the primary predator of common buzzards, peregrine falcons, common kestrel ("Falco tinnunculus") and black kites. The common buzzard and common kestrel are probably the most often selected diurnal raptors because they inhabit the edges most often hunted by the eagle-owls. Studies have shown that peregrine falcon experience lower productivity in areas where they nest closely to eagle-owls, as the eagle-owls pick off both nestlings and adults by night. However, peregrine populations were not hugely effected except in cases where small reintroductions were attempted of falcons or falcon populations were already rare due to other causes. The northern goshawk is itself a serious predator of other raptors. The eagle-owl is the goshawk's only major predator, although goshawks are not as intensely hunted as are buzzards due to their more deeply wooded preferred nesting habitat.
Eurasian otter
The Eurasian otter ("Lutra lutra"), also known as the European otter, Eurasian river otter, common otter, and Old World otter, is a semiaquatic mammal native to Eurasia. The most widely distributed member of the otter subfamily (Lutrinae) of the weasel family (Mustelidae), it is found in the waterways and coasts of Europe, many parts of Asia, and parts of northern Africa. The Eurasian otter has a diet mainly of fish, and is strongly territorial. It is endangered in parts of its range, but recovering in others.
Eurasian eagle-owl
Conversely to numerous threats and declines incurred by Eurasian eagle-owls, areas where human-dependent non-native prey species such as brown rats ("Rattus norvegicus") and rock pigeons ("Columba livia") have flourished, have given the eagle-owls a primary food source and allowed them occupy regions where they were once marginalized or absent.
Euura collactanea
The gall is found from the Great Britain and Ireland (locally common) in the west, north to Sweden and east to Lake Ladoga, Russia.
Eurasian eagle-owl
Long-eared owls in Eurasia have vertical striping like that of the Eurasian eagle-owl while long-eared owls in North America show a more horizontal striping like that of great horned owls. Whether these are examples of mimicry either way is unclear but it is known that both "Bubo" owls are serious predators of long-eared owls. The same discrepancy in underside streaking has also been noted in the Eurasian and American representations of the grey owl. A few other related species overlap minimally in range in Asia, mainly in east Asia and the southern reaches of the Eurasian eagle-owl’s range. Three fish owls appear to overlap in range, the brown ("Ketupa zeylonensis") in at least northern Pakistan, probably Kashmir and discontinuously in southern Turkey, the tawny ("K. flavipes") through much of eastern China and the Blakiston's fish owl in the Russian Far East, northeastern China and Hokkaido. Fish owls are distinctively different looking, possessing more scraggy ear tufts that hang to the side rather than sit erect on top of the head, generally have more uniform, brownish plumages without the contrasting darker streaking of an eagle-owl. The brown fish owl has no feathering on the tarsus or feet and the tawny has feathering only on the upper portion of the tarsi but the Blakiston’s is nearly as extensively feathered on the tarsi and feet as the eagle-owl. Tawny and brown fish owls are both slightly smaller than co-occurring Eurasian eagle-owls and Blakiston’s fish owls are similar or slightly larger than co-occurring large northern eagle-owls. Fish owls, being tied to the edges of freshwater where they hunt mainly fish and crabs, also have slightly differing, and more narrow, habitat preferences.
Eurasian golden oriole
The Eurasian golden oriole ("Oriolus oriolus") or simply golden oriole, is the only member of the oriole family of passerine birds breeding in Northern Hemisphere temperate regions. It is a summer migrant in Europe and western Asia and spends the winter season in central and southern Africa.
Ural owl
The northern populations of the Ural owl occupy similar habitat to the great grey owl, nesting in lowland forests but avoiding dense areas, especially those of purely conifers. In central Europe it is an upland species, preferring deciduous woodland. It usually occupies open woodland and is more often found in moist rather than dry areas. It nests in hollow tree trunks, occasionally in old raptor nests, and increasingly in nestboxes. It normally lays two to four eggs, which hatch after 27–34 days. The young leave the nest after about four weeks, but will not fly until about six weeks old. It is a very aggressive owl, chasing other birds of prey from its territory, and it will attack human intruders, especially when young are present.
Eurasian tree sparrow
The Eurasian tree sparrow is widespread in the towns and cities of eastern Asia, but in Europe it is a bird of lightly wooded open countryside, with the house sparrow breeding in the more urban areas. The Eurasian tree sparrow's extensive range and large population ensure that it is not endangered globally, but there have been large declines in western European populations, in part due to changes in farming practices involving increased use of herbicides and loss of winter stubble fields. In eastern Asia and western Australia, this species is sometimes viewed as a pest, although it is also widely celebrated in oriental art.
Eurasian eagle-owl
The great size, bulky, barrel-shaped build, erect ear tufts and orange eyes render this as a distinctive species. Other than general morphology, the above features differ markedly from those of two of the next largest subarctic owl species in Europe and western Asia, which are the great grey owl and the greyish to chocolate-brown Ural owl ("Strix uralensis"), both of which have no ear tufts and have a distinctly rounded head, rather than the blocky shape of the eagle-owl’s head. The snowy owl is obviously distinctive from most eagle-owls, but during winter the palest Eurasian eagle-owl race ("B. b. sibiricus") can appear off-white. Nevertheless, the latter is still distinctively an ear-tufted Eurasian eagle-owl and lacks the pure white background colour and variable black spotting of the slightly smaller species (which has relatively tiny, vestigial ear tufts that have only been observed to have flared on rare occasions). The long-eared owl has a somewhat similar plumage to the eagle-owl but is considerably smaller (an average female eagle-owl may be twice as long and ten times heavier than an average long-eared owl).
Ural River
The wetlands at and near the delta of the Ural River are especially important to migrating birds as an important stop-over along the Asian flyway. They host many endemic and endangered species, such as great white pelican, Dalmatian pelican, pygmy cormorant, cattle egret, little egret, greater flamingo, white-headed duck, ferruginous duck, Eurasian spoonbill, glossy ibis, houbara bustard, great black-headed gull, slender-billed gull, squacco heron, common crane, demoiselle crane, slender-billed curlew, black stork, red-breasted goose, lesser white-fronted goose, lesser kestrel, whooper swan, tundra swan, osprey, pallid harrier, short-toed eagle and many others. The pygmy cormorant was observed sporadically before 1999 and more regularly after that. Cattle egret is observed since 1990 between April and September (as most other migratory birds in this area), with the total population of several dozen couples. It feeds on frogs, mollusks and small fish. Upstream, there are more of the stationary bird species, such as grouse, wild pigeon and partridge.
Steller's sea eagle
It lives in coastal northeastern Asia and mainly preys on fish and water birds. The Kamchatka Peninsula in Far Eastern Russia is known for its relatively large population of these birds. Around 4,000 of these eagles live there. Steller's sea eagle is listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List of Endangered species.
Dusky eagle-owl
The dusky eagle-owl occurs from Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh to Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia into China.
In Peninsular Malaysia, it has been recorded in oil palm plantations during surveys carried out between autumn 2009 and 2010 in the states of Selangor, Perak, Pahang and Negeri Sembilan.
Eurasian dotterel
The Eurasian dotterel is a migratory species, breeding in northern Europe and Asia and migrating south to north Africa and the Middle East in the winter. It nests in a bare scrape on the ground and lays two to four eggs. The male does the incubation and rears the chicks, the female having gone off to find another male and lay another clutch of eggs. It is a common bird with a wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated it as being of "least concern".
Verreaux's eagle-owl
Despite the alternate common name of giant eagle-owl, the Verreaux's eagle-owl is not the largest owl or eagle-owl in the world. It is, however, a very large and powerful owl species. This species is both the largest owl found in Africa and the world's largest owl to occur in the tropics. Among all the world's owls, it is fourth heaviest living owl, after Blakiston's fish owl ("Bubo blakistoni"), the Eurasian eagle-owl ("Bubo bubo") and the tawny fish owl ("Bubo flavipes"), and is also the fourth longest living owl (measured from the bill to the tip of the tail), after the great gray ("Strix nebulosa"), Blakiston's fish and Eurasian eagle-owls. Based on body mass and wing chord length, Verreaux's eagle-owl is about the same size as "medium-sized" races of Eurasian eagle-owl, such as those from Central Asian steppe ("B. b. turcomanus") and the Himalayas ("B. b. hemachalana"), slightly smaller than most northern Eurasian races, considerably smaller than Siberian and Russian eagle-owls, and somewhat larger than the smallest Eurasian eagle-owl subspecies, such as those from the Iberian Peninsula ("B. b. hispanus") and the Middle East ("B. b. omissus" or "nikolskii").
Usambara eagle-owl
The Usambara eagle-owl is endemic to Tanzania where it occurs in the Usambara Mountains in the north east, recently discovered in the Uluguru Mountains and there has been a possible sighting in the Nguru Mountains.
Owl
Around the Paleogene-Neogene boundary (some 25 Mya), barn-owls were the dominant group of owls in southern Europe and adjacent Asia at least; the distribution of fossil and present-day owl lineages indicates that their decline is contemporary with the evolution of the different major lineages of typical owls, which for the most part seems to have taken place in Eurasia. In the Americas, rather an expansion of immigrant lineages of ancestral typical owls occurred.
Little owl
The distribution is widespread across Europe, Asia and North Africa. Its range in Eurasia extends from the Iberian Peninsula and Denmark eastwards to China and southwards to the Himalayas. In Africa it is present from Mauritania to Egypt, the Red Sea and Arabia. The bird has been introduced to New Zealand, and to the United Kingdom, where it has spread across much of England and the whole of Wales.
Eurasian siskin
The Eurasian siskin ("Spinus spinus") is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is also called the European siskin, common siskin or just siskin. Other (archaic) names include "black-headed goldfinch", "barley bird" and "aberdevine". It is very common throughout Europe and Asia. It is found in forested areas, both coniferous and mixed woodland where it feeds on seeds of all kinds, especially of alder and conifers.
Hunting in Russia
Russia's northeast part, the Kamchatka Peninsula and the coastal regions of the Pacific Ocean, have the highest density of brown bears. There are Eurasian brown bear ("Ursus arctos arctos"), Siberian brown bear ("Ursus arctos beringianus"), Syrian brown bear ("Ursus arctos syriacus"), Ussuri brown bear ("Ursus arctos lasiotus"), etc. 
Grand Prince of Moscow Ivan IV Vasilyevich was present at the bear hunts at the age of 13. False Dmitriy I was especially keen on bear hunting. A legend describes the miraculous salvation of Tsar Alexis of Russia from a bear by Saint Sava. After 1650/51 the bear hunts of Tsars became rare. In 2007 Russia proposed to allow polar bear hunting by the Chukchi people, for the first time since the Soviet Union banned hunting the dwindling species in 1956.
Long-eared hedgehog
The long-eared hedgehog is hunted by the Eurasian eagle owl and makes up about 14% of the predatory birds' diet. It has been reported as prey for the Pharaoh eagle owl in the Azraq Nature Reserve in Jordan.
White-tailed eagle
The wintering range is less well understood for the white-tailed eagle given the extreme reductions and fluctuations of northern breeding populations over the last few centuries, so that the delineation of regular wintering areas versus areas of mere vagrancy is difficult to ascertain. It is known that a small number winter on Etang de Lindre of Lorraine, France as well as an area on the border of France to Germany around Strasbourg, with vagrants to elsewhere in France, as well as to Spain, Portugal and Malta. A well-defined wintering population may occur in much of the Netherlands, even with infrequent modern breeding in the northern coastal areas. A non-breeding population is known in western Germany from North Rhine-Westphalia to Bonn, as well as far northern Germany into southwestern Denmark. Other established wintering areas are known in Europe in west-central Italy, northern Austria, fairly broadly in southern Slovakia and northern Hungary and a few protected pockets of Southeast Europe apart from the portions in the north and east where they still breed. Intermittent forms of vagrancy and migration (most from eagles that breed in or disperse from Russia) are known to occur in several areas of Turkey, the Levant countries, Azerbaijan and Iran down to even the Persian Gulf, albeit seldom is the species to be found commonly or reliably anywhere in these regions. Further east, rare wintering areas are known in a few small, scarce pockets of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan. It is a very rare winter visitor to India, namely the extreme northwest and along the border of Nepal to Bhutan and extreme northern Bangladesh. Scattered pockets of wintering birds are known to occur too in central and southern China, into northeastern Mynamar, and more broadly and regularly in much of northeastern China. Good numbers winter too in much of South Korea and Japan down to as far as Honshu. White-tailed eagles dispersing from their breeding grounds or natal sites in the Russian Far East are known to occasionally disperse across the Bering Sea to North America in several parts of the Aleutian Islands, the Pribilof Islands and some of mainland coastal Alaska down to Kodiak Island. Some white-tailed eagles even bred in Alaska on Attu Island in the late 1970s to the early 1980s (until 1984 when the last attempts were recorded) but it was not clear whether young were ever successfully fledged.
Southwick's Zoo
Eurasian Eagle-Owl
Euleia heraclei
This species is widespread in most of Europe (Great Britain, Austria, Belgium. Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Central European Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Ukraine ) and in the East Palearctic ecozone]], in Central Asia (Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) and Japan. It is also present in North Africa (Algeria, Morocco) and in the Middle East (Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Israel).
Eurasian water shrew
The Eurasian water shrew is found throughout Europe with the exception of Iceland, Ireland, certain Mediterranean islands and the Balkans. In Asia, its range extends from western Siberia and Asia Minor to North Korea and the Pacific coast of Siberia. It rarely strays far from water and is found in and around ditches, streams, ponds, watercress beds, fish ponds, damp meadows and rough bushy ground adjoining water.
Eurasian brown bear
Globally, the largest population is found east of the Ural mountain range, in the large Siberian forests; brown bears are also present in smaller numbers in parts of central Asia (former Soviet states).
Eurasian spoonbill
This is a Palearctic species, breeding from the United Kingdom and Spain in the west through to Japan, and also in North Africa. In Europe, only the Netherlands, Spain, Austria, Hungary and Greece have sizeable populations. Most birds migrate to the tropics in winter, with European breeders mainly going to Africa, but a few remaining in mild winter areas of western Europe south to the United Kingdom. It was extirpated from the United Kingdom in the later part of the seventeenth century, although in the previous century it had been a widespread breeding species in the south-east, even near London. Sporadic breeding attempts in the early 21st century culminated with the formation of a colony at Holkham in Norfolk in 2010. In 2011, 8 breeding pairs nested, successfully fledging 14 young.
Eurasian spoonbills show a preference for extensive shallow, wetlands with muddy, clay or fine sandy beds. They may inhabit any type of marsh, river, lake, flooded area and mangrove swamp, whether fresh, brackish or saline, but especially those with islands for nesting or dense emergent vegetation (e.g. reedbeds) and scattered trees or srubs (especially willow Salix spp., oak Quercus spp. or poplar Populus spp.). Eurasian spoonbills may also frequent sheltered marine habitats during the winter such as deltas, estuaries, tidal creeks and coastal lagoons.
Eurasian sparrowhawk
Natural predators of the Eurasian sparrowhawk include the barn owl, the tawny owl, the northern goshawk, the peregrine falcon, the golden eagle, the eagle owl, the red fox, the stone marten and the pine marten.
Solvær
Solvær has one of the highest densities of Eurasian eagle-owls in Europe.
Eurasian pygmy owl
The Eurasian pygmy owl ("Glaucidium passerinum") is the smallest owl in Europe. It is a dark reddish to greyish-brown, with spotted sides and half of a white ring around the back of the neck. This species is found in the boreal forests of Northern and Central Europe to Siberia.
Indian eagle-owl
The Indian eagle-owl, also called the rock eagle-owl or Bengal eagle-owl ("Bubo bengalensis"), is a species of large horned owl restricted to the Indian Subcontinent. They were earlier treated as a subspecies of the Eurasian eagle-owl. They are found in hilly and rocky scrub forests, and are usually seen in pairs. They have a deep resonant booming call that may be heard at dawn and dusk. They are typically large owls, and have "tufts" on their heads. They are splashed with brown and grey, and have a white throat patch with black small stripes.
Eurasian eagle-owl
Apparently, the point at which the chicks venture out of the nest is driven by the location of the nest. In elevated nest sites, chicks usually wander out of the nest at 5 to as late as 7 weeks of age, but have been recorded leaving the nest if the nest is on the ground as early as 22 to 25 days old. The chicks can walk well at five weeks of age and by seven weeks are taking short flights. Hunting and flying skills are not tested prior to the young eagle-owls leaving the nest. Young Eurasian eagle-owls leave the nest by 5–6 weeks of age and typically can be flying weakly (a few metres) by about 7–8 weeks of age. Normally, they are cared for at least another month. By the end of the month, the young eagle-owls are quite assured fliers. There are a few confirmed cases of adult eagle-owls in Spain feeding and caring for post-fledgling juvenile eagle-owls that were not their own.
A study from southern France found the mean fledgling number of fledgling per nest was 1.67. In central Europe, the mean number of fledglings per nest averages between 1.8 and 1.9. The mean fledgling rate in the Italian Alps was 1.89, thus being similar. In the Italian Alps it was found that heavier rainfall during breeding decreased fledgling success because it inhibited the ability of the parents to hunt and potentially exposed nestlings to hypothermia. In the reintroduced population of eagle-owls in Eifel, Germany, occupied territories produced an average of 1.17 fledglings but not all occupying pair attempted to breed, with about 23% of those attempting to breed being unsuccessful. In slightly earlier studies, possibly due to higher persecution rates, the mean number of young leaving the nest was often lower, such as 1.77 in Bavaria, Germany, 1.1 in lower Austria and 0.6 in southern Sweden. While sibling owls are close in the stage between leaving the nest and fully fledged, about 20 days after leaving the nest, the family unit seems to dissolve and the young disperse quickly and directly. All told, the dependence of young eagle-owls on their parents last for 20 to 24 weeks. Independence in central Europe is from September to November. The young leave their parents care normally on their own but are also sometimes chased away by their parents. The young Eurasian eagle-owls reach sexual maturity by the following year, but do not normally breed until they can establish a territory at around two or three years old. Until they are able to establish their own territories, young eagle-owls spend their life as nomadic "floaters" and, while they also call, select inconspicuous perch sites unlike breeding birds. Male floaters are especially wary about intrusion into an established territory to avoid potential conspecific aggression.
Eurasian pygmy owl
The diet of the Eurasian pygmy owl includes mostly small mammals, such as voles, lemmings, bats, and mice, and small birds such as thrushes, crossbills, chaffinches, and leaf-warblers. They are able to catch birds in flight. Other prey items may include lizards, fish, and insects. The owl may store food during the winter.
Boreal owl
The boreal owl breeds in dense coniferous forests across northern North America and Eurasia, and in mountain ranges such as the Alps and the Rockies. It lays 3–6 eggs in a tree hole. Across much of Europe, and to a lesser extent in Asia and North America, naturalists and biologists put up nest boxes for these and other small owls.
Eurasian eagle-owl
The Eurasian eagle-owl is a very large bird, smaller than the golden eagle ("Aquila chrysaetos") but larger than the snowy owl, despite some overlap in size with both species. It is sometimes referred to as the world's largest owl, although Blakiston's fish owl ("B. blakistoni") is slightly heavier on average and the much lighter weight great grey owl ("Strix nebulosa") is slightly longer on average. Heimo Mikkola reported the largest specimens of eagle-owl as having the same upper body mass, , as the largest Blakiston’s fish owl and attained a length of around longer. In terms of average weight and wing size, the Blakiston’s is the slightly larger species seemingly, even averaging a bit larger in these aspects than the biggest eagle-owl races from Russia. Also, although shorter than the largest of the latter species, the Eurasian eagle-owl can weigh well more than twice as much as the largest great grey owl. The Eurasian eagle-owl typically has a wingspan of , with the largest specimens possibly attaining . The total length of the species can vary from . Females can weigh from and males can weigh from . In comparison, the barn owl ("Tyto alba"), the world's most widely distributed owl species, weighs about 500 g (1.1 lb) and the great horned owl ("Bubo virginianus"), which fills the eagle-owl's ecological niche in North America, weighs around 1.4 kg (3.1 lb).
Great grey owl
They breed in North America from as far east as Quebec to the Pacific coast and Alaska, and from Finland and Estonia across northern Asia. They are permanent residents, although northerly populations may move south and southeast when food is scarce. In Europe they are found breeding in Norway and Sweden and more numerously through Finland and Russia. Even though the species occurs in Europe, the first great grey owl recognized by science was found in Canada in the late 18th century.
There are sedentary populations in the Pacific states of California, Oregon, and Washington. The great grey owl in this region is found in disjunct areas of appropriate habitat. In winter these birds do not move far but may go downslope to escape deep snow as they must capture their prey on the ground.
Snowy owl
Snowy owls nest in the Arctic tundra of the northernmost stretches of Alaska, Northern Canada, and Eurasia. They winter south through Canada and northern Eurasia, with irruptions occurring further south in some years. Snowy owls are attracted to open areas like coastal dunes and prairies that appear somewhat similar to tundra. During irruption years when they are found in the Northeastern US, juveniles frequent developed areas, as well as the expected grassland/agricultural areas that older birds primarily utilize. All ages spend a fair amount of their time over water in the Great Lakes and Atlantic Ocean, mostly on ice floes. They have been reported as far south as the American Gulf Coast states, Hawaii, southernmost Russia, and northern China.
In the Late Pleistocene the range expanded southward to Bulgaria (80,000–16,000 years, Kozarnika Cave, W Bulgaria), and much of the Italian Peninsula.
Dietary biology of the Eurasian eagle-owl
A very large balance of the prey range can also be comprised by birds and other prey including reptiles, amphibians, fish, insects and other invertebrates are seemingly taken whenever they are available. All told, well more than 600 different species have been identified as prey of Eurasian eagle-owls. Their diet includes basically all the same prey as all sympatric diurnal raptors in the genera "Buteo", "Aquila" and "Haliaeetus". The total number of prey species may even surpass that of the great horned owl and may well be the greatest of any raptorial bird on the Eurasian continent. Among five segments of Europe the average prey diversity per region was 63 species, a higher number than any of the other 40 raptorial bird species studied there. The mean mass of prey per study has varied from as little as , near the now former Aral Sea in Turkmenistan with the Turkmen jerboa ("Jaculus turkmenicus") being the primary prey species, to , in Spain with the European rabbit being the primary prey species. Remarkably, in northern Spain, where the rabbit is now extirpated (as was the eagle-owl for a time in the 20th century), the average weight of prey can dip as low as . In comparison, the lightest mean prey mass in dietary studies of the great horned owl was while the highest was .
European jackal
The European jackal ("Canis aureus moreoticus"), also known as the Caucasian jackal or reed wolf is a subspecies of golden jackal native to Southeast Europe, Asia Minor and the Caucasus. It was first described in 1833 by French naturalist Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire during the Morea expedition. In Europe, there are an estimated 70,000 jackals. Though mostly found in scattered populations within Eastern Europe, its range has grown to encompass parts of its former Eastern European range, as well as in Western Europe, which is thought to be attributable to a decline in grey wolf populations.
Short-toed snake eagle
This is an Old World species found throughout the Mediterranean basin, into Russia and the Middle East, and parts of Asia, mainly in the Indian Subcontinent and also further east in some Indonesian islands.
Blakiston's fish owl
Once full-sized, these owls have few natural predators. However, they may be more vulnerable to attack from mammalian carnivores since, unlike other eagle owls which typically perch and hunt from trees or inaccessible rock formations, they hunt mainly on the ground along riverbanks. There are two records of natural predation on adults from Russia and none in Japan: one involved a Eurasian lynx ("Lynx lynx") and the other an Asian black bear ("Ursus thibetanus").
Dietary biology of the Eurasian eagle-owl
Discreet habitat preferences may coincidentally spare many owls, as owls from the genera "Strix", "Glaucidium", "Aegolius" and the northern hawk-owl ("Surnia ulula") tend to restrict both nesting and their hunting forays to more enclosed areas of woodland than habitats inhabited by the eagle-owls. Meanwhile, "Asio", "Otus", "Athene" and barn owls owls tend to hunt in more open habitats than the edges favored by eagle-owls. However, habitat preferences are never enough to spare any of these genera from predation by the great eagle-owl. In the Italian Alps, despite differing habitat preferences and partially overlapping prey, several tawny owls were killed by eagle-owls. Woodland nesting owl species tend to nest in tree hollows, many of which are too small for an eagle-owl to access, so are somewhat less likely to be picked off at their nests. Open-country owls that tend to nest in open-access nesting sites like short-eared owls and little owls may be somewhat more vulnerable at the nest. The great numbers of long-eared owls taken, since it often nest in dense, protective thickets, are probably adult or immature owls attempting to hunt. In Europe, Eurasian eagle-owls are generally the only owls to regularly nest in rocky habitats. This is not the case in arid desert-like regions, where limited nesting options frequently force diverse owls to use rocky areas as nesting sites. However, the cliffs and other rocky areas preferred by Eurasian eagle-owls are also utilized by several species of diurnal raptor in Eurasia. In Spain, golden eagles, Bonelli's eagles and peregrine falcons ("Falco peregrinus") most often nest on cliffs. Large scavenging birds such as cinereous vultures ("Aegypius monachus"), bearded vultures ("Gypaetus barbatus"), Eurasian griffons ("Gyps fulvus"), Egyptian vulture ("Neophron percnopterus") and common ravens also often nests on the same Iberian cliffs. While the two eagles nested at great distances from one another (they are known to be territorial towards each other), the eagle-owl nesting within of the other species. In these cliff nests, the only considerable predatory interaction was the eagle-owls appearing to predate the peregrine falcons. In the Tibetan Plateau, upland buzzards ("Buteo hemilasius") also seem to favor similar habitats and both the eagle-owl and buzzard take similar prey there. In general, the eagle-owl can nest closer to diurnal raptors because, as a nocturnal animal, it will not actively compete for territories as it would with other members of its own species.
Eurasian blue tit
Eurasian blue tits, usually resident and non-migratory birds, are widespread and a common resident breeder throughout temperate and subarctic Europe and western Asia in deciduous or mixed woodlands with a high proportion of oak. They usually nest in tree holes, although they easily adapt to nest boxes where necessary. Their main rival for nests and in the search for food is the larger and more common great tit.
Dietary biology of the Eurasian eagle-owl
Wild birds found in their diet have ranged in size from the Eurasian wren ("Troglodytes troglodytes") to about 15 species weighing over . One of the largest wild adult bird verified as prey was the greylag goose ("Anser anser"). Other large species have been hunted, some may be cases of nest robbery rather than large adults but none are heavier than the largest mammalian prey that eagle-owls have taken including greater white-fronted goose ("Anser albifrons"), bar-headed goose ("Anser indicus"), great cormorant ("Phalacrocorax carbo"), Himalayan snowcock ("Tetraogallus himalayensis") and demoiselle crane ("Anthropoides virgo"), all averaging around , the swan goose ("Anser cygnoides"), the common crane ("Grus grus") and the (between the dimorphic sexes) great bustard ("Otis tarda"). Eurasian eagle-owls have also hunted adult male western capercaillie, which average about , although usually the much smaller females, at , are more regularly taken. Although they rarely take domestic birds, the range of sizes killed is just as dramatic, from loose budgerigars ("Melopsittacus undulatus"), weighing only , to domestic turkeys, which may easily weigh over .
Eurasian hoopoe
The Eurasian hoopoe is widespread in Europe, Asia, and North Africa and northern Sub-Saharan Africa. Most European and north Asian birds migrate to the tropics in winter. In contrast, the African populations are sedentary all year. The species has been a vagrant in Alaska; "U. e. saturata" was recorded there in 1975 in the Yukon Delta. Hoopoes have been known to breed north of their European range, and in southern England during warm, dry summers that provide plenty of grasshoppers and similar insects, although as of the early 1980s northern European populations were reported to be in the decline, possibly due to changes in climate.
Eurasian eagle-owl
Apparently, the German reintroductions have allowed eagle-owls to repopulate neighbouring parts of Europe, as the breeding populations now occurring in the Low Countries (Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) are believed to be the result of influx from regions further to the east. Smaller reintroductions have been done elsewhere and the current breeding population in Sweden is believed to be primarily the result of a series of reintroductions.
Père David's owl
The Père David's owl ("Strix davidi") is an owl found in the mountains of central China (Qinghai and Sichuan). There is debate over whether it is a separate species or an isolated subspecies of Ural owl. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World (2015 version) considers it a separate species, but BirdLife International and IUCN treat it as a subspecies.
Eurasian otter
The Eurasian otter is the most widely distributed otter species, its range including parts of Asia and Africa, as well as being spread across Europe, south to Israel. Though currently believed to be extinct in Liechtenstein and Switzerland, they are now very common in Latvia, along the coast of Norway, in the western regions of Spain and Portugal and across Great Britain, especially Shetland, where 12% of the UK breeding population exists. Ireland's otters are geographically widespread and believed to be the most stable population in Europe. In Italy, they can be found in southern parts of the peninsula. The South Korean population is endangered. In India, the species is distributed in the Himalayan foothills, southern Western Ghats and the central Indian landscape.
Eurasian tree sparrow
When the Eurasian tree sparrow and the larger house sparrow occur in the same area, the house sparrow generally breeds in urban areas while the smaller Eurasian tree sparrow nests in the countryside. Where trees are in short supply, as in Mongolia, both species may utilise man-made structures as nest sites. The Eurasian tree sparrow is rural in Europe, but is an urban bird in eastern Asia; in southern and central Asia, both "Passer" species may be found around towns and villages. In parts of the Mediterranean, such as Italy, both the tree and the Italian or Spanish sparrows may be found in settlements. In Australia, the Eurasian tree sparrow is largely an urban bird, and it is the house sparrow which utilises more natural habitats.
Eurasian tree sparrow
Despite its scientific name, "Passer montanus", this is not typically a mountain species, and reaches only in Switzerland, although it has bred at in the northern Caucasus and as high as in Nepal. In Europe, it is frequently found on coasts with cliffs, in empty buildings, in pollarded willows along slow water courses, or in open countryside with small isolated patches of woodland. The Eurasian tree sparrow shows a strong preference for nest-sites near wetland habitats, and avoids breeding on intensively managed mixed farmland.
Eurasian eagle-owl
The male selects breeding sites and advertises their potential to the female by flying to them and kneading out a small depression (if soil is present) and making staccato notes and clucking noises. Several potential sites may be presented, with the female selecting one. Like all owls, Eurasian eagle-owls do not build nests or add material but nest on the surface or material already present. Eurasian eagle-owls normally nest on rocks or boulders, most often utilizing cliff ledges and steep slopes, as well as crevices, gullies, holes or caves. Rocky areas that also prove concealing woodlots as well as, for hunting purposes, that border river valleys and grassy scrubland may be especially attractive. If only low rubble is present, they will nest on the ground between rocks. Often, in more densely forested areas, they’ve been recorded nesting on the ground, often among roots of trees, under large bushes and under fallen tree trunks. Steep slopes with dense vegetation are preferred if nesting on the ground, although some ground nests are surprisingly exposed or in flat spots such as in open spots of the taiga, steppe, ledges of river banks and between wide tree trunks. All Eurasian eagle-owl nests in the largely forested Altai Krai region of Russia were found to be on the ground, usually at the base of pines. This species does not often use other bird’s nests as does the great horned owl, which often prefers nests built by other animals over any other nesting site. The Eurasian eagle-owl has been recorded in singular cases using nests built by common buzzards ("Buteo buteo"), golden eagle, greater spotted ("Clanga clanga") and white-tailed eagles ("Haliaeetus albicilla"), common ravens ("Corvus corax") and black storks ("Ciconia nigra"). Among the eagle-owls of the fairly heavily wooded wildlands of Belarus, they more commonly utilize nests built by other birds than most eagle-owls, i.e. stork or accipitrid nests, but a majority of nests are still located on the ground. This is contrary to the indication that ground nests are selected only if rocky areas or other bird nests are unavailable, as many will utilize ground nests even where large bird nests seem to be accessible. Tree holes being used for nesting sites are even more rarely recorded than nests constructed by other birds. While it may be assumed that the eagle-owl is too large to utilize tree hollows, when other large species like the great grey owl have never been recorded nesting in one, the even more robust Blakiston's fish owl nests exclusively in cavernous hollows. The Eurasian eagle-owl often uses the same nest site year after year.
In Engadin, Switzerland, the male eagle-owl hunts until the young are 4 to 5 weeks old and the female spends all her time brooding at the nest. After this point, the female gradually resumes hunting from both herself and the young and thus provides a greater range of food for the young. While it may seem contrary to the species’ highly territorial nature, there is one verified cases of polygamy in Germany, with a male apparently mating with two females, and cooperative brooding in Spain, with a third adult of undetermined sex helping a breeding pair care for the chicks. The response of Eurasian eagle-owls to humans approaching at the nest is quite variable. The species is often rather less aggressive than some other owls, including related species like the spot-bellied eagle-, great horned and snowy owls, many of the northern "Strix" species and even some rather smaller owl species, which often fearlessly attack any person found to be nearing their nests. Occasionally, if a person climbs to an active nest, the adult female eagle-owl will do a distraction display, in which they feign an injury. This is an uncommon behaviour in most owls and most often associated with small birds trying to falsely drawl the attention of potential predators away from their offspring. More commonly, the female flies off and abandons her nest temporarily, leaving the eggs or small nestlings exposed, when a human approaches it. Occasionally, if cornered both adults and nestlings will do an elaborate threat display, also rare in owls in general, in which the eagle-owls raise their wings into a semi-circle and puff up their feathers, followed by a snapping of their bills. Apparently eagle-owls of uncertain and probably exotic origin in Britain are likely to react aggressively to humans approaching the nest. Also, aggressive encounters involving eagle-owls around their nest, despite being historically rare, apparently have increased in recent decades in Scandinavia. The discrepancy of aggressiveness at the nest between the Eurasian eagle-owl and its Nearctic counterpart may be correlated to variation in the extent of nest predation that the species endured during the evolutionary process.
Eurasian beaver
The Eurasian beaver or European beaver ("Castor fiber") is a species of beaver which was once widespread in Eurasia. It was hunted to near-extinction for both its fur and castoreum; and by 1900, only 1200 beavers survived in eight relict populations in Europe and Asia. Reintroduced through much of its former range, it now occurs from Great Britain to China and Mongolia, although it is absent from Portugal, the southern Balkans, and the Middle East.
Eurasian sparrowhawk
The Eurasian sparrowhawk breeds in well-grown, extensive areas of woodland, often coniferous or mixed, preferring forest with a structure neither too dense nor too open, to allow a choice of flight paths. The nest can be located in the fork of a tree, often near the trunk and where two or three branches begin, on a horizontal branch in the lower canopy, or near the top of a tall shrub. If available, conifers are preferred. A new nest is built every year, generally close to the nest of the previous year, and sometimes using an old wood pigeon ("A. n. melaschistos" frequently uses the old nests of jungle crows) nest as a base; the male does most of the work. The structure, made of loose twigs up to long, has an average diameter of . When the eggs are laid, a lining of fine twigs or bark chippings is added.
Eurasian eagle-owl
Eurasian eagle-owls are strictly territorial and will defend their territories from interloping eagle-owls year around, but territorial calling appears to peak around October to early January. Territory size is similar or occasionally slightly greater than great horned owl: averaging . Territories are established by the male eagle-owl, who selected the highest points in the territory from which to sing. The high prominence of singing perches allows their song to be heard at greater distances and lessens the need for potentially dangerous physical confrontations in the areas where territories may meet. Nearly as important in territorial behaviour as vocalization is the white throat patch. When taxidermied specimens with flared white throats were placed around the perimeter of eagle-owl territories, male eagle-owls reacted quite strongly and often attacked the stuffed owl, reacting more mildly to a stuffed eagle-owl with a non-flared white throat. Females were less likely to be aggressive to mounted specimens and did not seem to vary in their response whether exposed to the specimens with or without the puffed up white patch. In January and February, the primary function for vocalization becomes for the purpose of courtship. More often than not, eagle-owls will pair for life but usually engage in courtship rituals annually, most likely to re-affirm pair bonds. When calling for the purposes of courtship, males tend to bow and hoot loudly but do so in a less contorted manner than the male great horned owl. Courtship in the Eurasian eagle-owl may involve bouts of "duetting", with the male sitting upright and the female bowing as she calls. There may be mutual bowing, billing and fondling before the female flies to a perch where coitus occurs, usually taking place several times over the course of a few minutes.
Eurasian eagle-owl
In Spain, long-term governmental protection of the Eurasian eagle-owl seems to have no positive effect on reducing the persecution of eagle-owls. Therefore, Spanish conservationists have recommended to boost education and stewardship programs in order to protect eagle-owls from direct killing by local residents.
Eurasian eagle-owl in Great Britain
However, a more recent BBC TV programme (2007) reported that the eagle-owl is becoming more common in the UK and is showing signs that it is becoming established, mirroring the recent rapid increase in the Buzzard population with which it shares some similarities, particularly prey and habitat.
Dietary biology of the Eurasian eagle-owl
Hunting mainly consist of the owl watching from a perch for prey activity and then swooping down swiftly once prey is spotted. The prey is often killed quickly by the eagle owl's powerful grip and talons though is sometimes bitten on the head to be killed as well. Then the prey item is swallowed whole or torn into pieces with the bill. The same basic hunting and killing methods are used by all owls in the "Bubo" genus, except that the snowy owls ("Bubo scandiacus") and fish owls regularly watch for prey from a ground position (on a bank in the case of fish owls). Most hunting occurs in wood-cloaked openings, often those carved out by wetlands or watersheds. While they can and do hunt within woodlands, they are not well suited to hunting in areas with dense understories, thick foliage or tree thickets, as they seem to hunt firstly by vision and only secondarily by sounds, unlike some other owls. Eurasian eagle-owls are too heavy with relatively modest wing areas to hunt extensively on the wing although this species’ relatively short, broad wings allow it low-speed maneuverability in the moments are it takes off after they spot a prey item. Because of the limits of its flying abilities, the Eurasian eagle-owl requires ample, elevated perches from which to watch for prey activity and thus in most areas it will not hunt extensively in open, treeless areas, unlike smaller owls like the barn owl ("Tyto alba"). Tree branches are often the main hunting perches used but they will also use rock formations, rubble with large rocks, hills with tall grasses or even a building, tall pole or other elevated manmade perch. Occasionally, they may capture other birds on the wing, including nocturnal migrants, taking advantage of their distraction and diminished visual acuity to intercept them in mid-flight. They seem to hunt mostly by opportunity, taking whatever detectable prey item that is available, preferably those that are active. Most prey, even up to the size of small rabbits, are swallowed whole. While a small rodent can easily be swallowed in an instant, if the prey item is large, the swallowing process can appear grueling and grotesque and in some cases eagle-owl nestlings have choked to death while attempting to swallow overly large prey (i.e. moorhens). Small prey is often swallowed immediately after capture, although occasionally it is carried in the bill to the nest for the young or to a roost for quick consumption. Larger prey is normally carried in the owl's feet and is more likely than smallish prey to be brought to the nest due to its nutritional value. Exceptionally large prey (probably any over ) is consumed on the ground where it is killed, possibly being torn apart into manageable pieces. This leaves the owl vulnerable to loss of their prey to scavengers or to confrontations with heavier predators. The undigestable portions of prey are regurgitated in the form of pellets as in all owls. Pellets of the Eurasian eagle-owl average around , thus they are around the same size as those of most other large "Bubo" owls, even the notably smaller great horned owl ("B. virginianus"). In some cases, pellets of "Bubo" owls can range up to in length. Eagle-owl pellets average slightly larger (about 10%) than those of great grey owls ("Strix nebulosa"). As is the case with all owls, pellets are indisputably the best method to examine the main diversity of prey consumed by an owl. However, it is also important to examine the prey remains left around a roost or nest when available. Larger prey, which may be torn apart before the eating of portions or fleshy parts of the prey item, is frequently determined solely by remains rather pellets as are birds, in which the wings, feet and some feathers may be removed before consumption. As in the great horned owl, after capturing larger prey, the Eurasian eagle-owl often beheads it. In part, this may be due to making prey easier to carry off and, in both large owl species, it is considered a signature indicator for predator identification.
The diet is generally more diverse than any other co-existing owl but often focuses predominantly on a particular range of prey species, with two to four species often making up the majority of the diet. Studies conducted over the course of years has shown that the regional diet often changes dramatically from year to year. This is partially driven by the cyclical population trends of much of their prey as well as by habitat changes, which are often due to human activities. The primary prey species varies by region but is comprised mainly by small mammals such as voles, rats, mice, rabbits and hares. In Europe, the five main prey species are, in order of extent of reporting and numeric abundance in dietary studies: the brown rat ("Rattus norvegius"), which has now occupied edge habitats (although generally associated with man) in almost every part of Europe excluding the colder north; the common vole ("Microtus arvalis"), often the most abundant native, small mammal in wild portions of Europe; the European hedgehog ("Erinaceus concolor"), which occupies wooded edges across western Europe alongside the eagle-owls; the European water vole ("Arvicola amphibius"), a unique, large vole occupying the wetland edges often hunted by eagle-owls; and the European rabbit ("Oryctolagus cuniculus"), which has a very close relationship with the eagle-owls found throughout the Iberian Peninsula and the massifs of France. As the distribution of the Eurasian eagle-owls moves west (and south), the primarily prey species gradually change but often continues to be dominated in number by small rodents and in biomass by slightly larger mammals such as hedgehogs and hares and rabbits.
Eurasian teal
The Eurasian teal breeds across northern Eurasia and mostly winters well south of its breeding range. However, in the milder climate of temperate Europe, the summer and winter ranges overlap. For example, in the United Kingdom and Ireland a small summer population breeds, but far greater numbers of Siberian birds arrive in winter. In the Caucasus region, western Asia Minor, along the northern shores of the Black Sea, and even on the south coast of Iceland and on the Vestmannaeyjar, the species can be encountered all year, too.
Eurasian eagle-owl
With a total range in Europe and Asia of about 32 million square kilometres (12 million square miles) and a total population estimated to be between 250 thousand and 2.5 million, the IUCN lists the bird's conservation status as being of "least concern". The vast majority of eagle-owls live in mainland Europe, Russia and Central Asia, and an estimated number of between 12 and 40 pairs are thought to reside in the United Kingdom as of 2016, a number which may be on the rise. Tame eagle-owls have occasionally been used in pest control because of their size to deter large birds such as gulls from nesting.
Eastern screech owl
The eastern screech owl or eastern screech-owl ("Megascops asio") is a small owl that is relatively common in Eastern North America, from Mexico to Canada. This species is native to most wooded environments of its distribution, and more so than any other owl in its range, has adapted well to manmade development, although it frequently avoids detection due to its strictly nocturnal habits.
Eurasian eagle-owl
The Eurasian eagle-owl at one time occurred naturally in Great Britain. Some, including the RSPB have claimed that this was probably by about 10,000–9,000 years ago after the last ice age but fossil remains found in Meare Lake Village have indicated the eagle-owl occurring as recently as roughly 2,000 years ago in the fossil record. The lack of presence of the Eurasian eagle-owl in British folklore or writings in recent millennium may indicate the lack of occurrence by this species there. The flooding of the land bridge between Britain and continental Europe may have been responsible for their extirpation as they only disperse over limited distances, although early human persecution presumably played a role as well. Some reportages of eagle-owls in Britain have been revealed to actually be great horned owls or Indian eagle-owls, the latter a particularly popular owl in falconry circuits. Some breeding pairs do still occur in Britain, the exact number of pairs and individuals is not definitely known. The World Owl Trust stated that they believe some eagle-owls occurring in North England and Scotland are naturally occurring, making the flight of roughly from the west coast of Norway to Shetland and the east coast of Scotland, as well as possibly from the coasts of the Netherlands and Belgium to the south. Although not migratory, eagle-owls can disperse some notable distances in young birds seeking a territory. Prior studies of eagle-owl distribution have indicated a strong reluctance to cross large bodies of water in the species. Many authorities state that the Eurasian eagle-owls occurring in Britain are individuals that have escaped from captivity. While, until 19th century, wealthy collectors may have released unwanted eagle-owls, despite press to the contrary, there is no evidence of any organization or individual intentionally releasing eagle-owls recently with the intent to establish a breeding population. Many feel that the eagle-owl would be classified as an "alien" species. Due to its predatory abilities, many, especially those in the press, have expressed alarm of their effect on "native" species. From 1994 to 2007, 73 escaped eagle-owls were not registered as returned, while 50 escapees were re-captured. Several recorded breeding attempts have been studied and most were unsuccessful, due in large part to incidental disturbance by humans and some due to direct persecution, with eggs having been smashed.
Dietary biology of the Eurasian eagle-owl
Jirds, jerboas, gerbils and hamsters, particular the genera "Allactaga", "Ellobius", "Gerbillus", "Meriones", and "Pygeretmus", start to become noticeable in the diet in the more arid portions of this species’ range, i.e. from Asia Minor to the Middle East and Central Asia. Relatively large species such as Tristram's jird ("Meriones tristrami") and the Euphrates jerboa ("Allactaga euphratica") are often amongst the more prominent species to be hunted. In western Kazakhstan, the primary foods are the great jerboa ("Allactaga major") and northern mole vole ("Ellobius talpinus") while on the Buzachi and Mangyshlak Peninsulas of the Kazakh Caspian Sea, the primary foods were the Libyan jird ("Meriones libycus"), great gerbil ("Rhombomys opimus") and small five-toed jerboa ("Allactaga elater"). All told, in the peninsular Kazakh regions of the Caspian Sea, jirds, jerboas and gerbils made up about 92% of the food. In the Tibetan Plateau of China, the tundra vole ("Microtus oeconomus") is the leading prey species, making up 53.1% of the prey. In Mongolia, two rather small rodents, the Mongolian five-toed jerboa ("Allactaga sibirica"), at 23.6% of the prey, and the Campbell's dwarf hamster ("Phodopus campbelli"), at 14.5% of the prey, make up a majority of the prey by number. In the Transbaikal, the Chinese striped hamster ("Cricetulus barabensis") was the main prey species, making up 43.8% of the diet.
What all primary rodent prey species share is that they are either nocturnal or crepuscular and are often common to abundant in openings of woods and rocky environments. The reason Eurasian eagle-owls take rats, which associate rather closely with humans, much more regularly than they take house mice ("Mus musculus") is not their larger size (many other rodents regularly taken by eagle-owls are as small or smaller than a house mouse) but the rat's ability to flourish along the edges of crop fields, refuse dumps, roadsides and abandoned buildings and fields, whereas the mice are more closely tied to active human habitations. A single refuse dump can host several thousand rats and eagle-owl territories that include dumps can locally expect higher productivity due to the abundance of this food source. Squirrels are readily predated but, being diurnal, are largely unavailable to this and other owls. When they are captured, it is presumably around dawn or dusk from their tree hole, in species such as the widespread red squirrel ("Sciurus vulgaris"), or burrow entrance, in the case of ground squirrels, most regularly recorded as prey in Asia Minor and the Central Asia. A few specimens of the woolly flying squirrels ("Eupetaurus cinereus"), the largest of the world's flying squirrels and one of the rarest, were the only identified foods for Eurasian eagle-owls in northern Pakistan alongside some European hares. Although not common in the diet, a few species of marmot have been taken and may be an important aspect of the prey biomass. In Europe, adult-sized alpine marmots, ("Marmota marmota") have been killed. However, the average weight of Tarbagan marmots ("Marmota sibirica") taken in Mongolia was only and that of alpine marmots in Engadin, Switzerland was only . These obviously comprising young marmots as adults have average weights from , from spring low weights to pre-hibernation weights during autumn hypophagia. Other than marmots, the largest rodent known to be hunted by Eurasian eagle-owls is the introduced aquatic rodents, the muskrat ("Ondatra zibethica"), which in one study estimated to average when taken, and the nutria ("Myocastor coypus"), equal in size to the large marmots.
Turkey
The Northern Anatolian conifer and deciduous forests is an ecoregion which covers most of the Pontic Mountains in northern Turkey, while the Caucasus mixed forests extend across the eastern end of the range. The region is home to Eurasian wildlife such as the Eurasian sparrowhawk, golden eagle, eastern imperial eagle, lesser spotted eagle, Caucasian black grouse, red-fronted serin, and wallcreeper. The narrow coastal strip between the Pontic Mountains and the Black Sea is home to the Euxine-Colchic deciduous forests, which contain some of the world's few temperate rainforests. The Turkish pine is mostly found in Turkey and other east Mediterranean countries. Several wild species of tulip are native to Anatolia, and the flower was first introduced to Western Europe with species taken from the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century.
Eurasian wren
The Eurasian wren ("Troglodytes troglodytes") is a very small bird, and the only member of the wren family Troglodytidae found in Eurasia and Africa (Maghreb). In Anglophone Europe, it is commonly known simply as the wren. It was once lumped with "Troglodytes hiemalis" of eastern North America and "Troglodytes pacificus" of western North America as the winter wren. The Eurasian wren occurs in Europe, a belt of Asia from northern Iran and Afghanistan across to Japan. It is migratory in only the northern parts of its range. It is also highly polygynous, an unusual mating system for passerines.
Eurasian wigeon
The Eurasian wigeon is a bird of open wetlands, such as wet grassland or marshes with some taller vegetation, and usually feeds by dabbling for plant food or grazing, which it does very readily. It nests on the ground, near water and under cover. It is highly gregarious outside of the breeding season and will form large flocks. They will join with flocks of the American wigeon in the United States, and they also hybridize with them. This is a noisy species. The male has a clear whistle that sounds like: "pjiew pjiew", whereas the female has a low growl : "rawr".
True owl
While typical owls (hereafter referred to simply as owls) vary greatly in size, with the smallest species, the elf owl, being a hundredth the size of the largest, the Eurasian eagle-owl and Blakiston's fish owl, owls generally share an extremely similar body plan. They tend to have large heads, short tails, cryptic plumage, and round facial discs around the eyes. The family is generally arboreal (with a few exceptions like the burrowing owl) and obtain their food on the wing. The wings are large, broad, rounded, and long. As is the case with most birds of prey, in many owl species females are larger than males.
Red fox
In Eurasia, red foxes may be preyed upon by leopards, caracals and Eurasian lynxes. The lynxes chase red foxes into deep snow, where their longer legs and larger paws give them an advantage over foxes, especially when the depth of the snow exceeds one metre. In the Velikoluki district in Russia, red foxes are absent or are seen only occasionally where lynxes establish permanent territories. Researchers consider lynxes to represent considerably less danger to red foxes than wolves do. North American felid predators of red foxes include cougars, Canadian lynxes and bobcats. Occasionally, large raptors such as Eurasian eagle owls will prey on young foxes, while golden eagles have been known to kill adults.
Dusky eagle-owl
The dusky eagle-owl ("Bubo coromandus") is an owl species in the Strigidae family that is widespread in South and Southeast Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. The species's extent of occurrence is estimated at .
Spot-bellied eagle-owl
This species is distributed the Lower Himalayas from Kumaon east to Burma, thence to central Laos and central Vietnam. They are found throughout the Indian subcontinent and peninsular Southeast Asia down into the southernmost limits of the range in Sri Lanka and to 12 degrees north in southern Thailand. The spot-bellied eagle-owl dwells mainly in primary or older second growth forests. Potentially, they can come to inhabit nearly all varieties of land-based habitats but prefer those such as dense, evergreen forests or moist deciduous forests within its range, though can range secondarily into tropical valleys, "terrai" and "shola" in the lower hills of India. Although often considered uncommon to somewhat rare, recent photographic evidence indicates that they are particularly widely found in different parts of India and may simply avoid detection, so long as appropriate wooded habitat remains. They are found in a range of climates from the temperate woodlands of Nepal to the humid, tropical rainforest of Southeast Asia. However. the spot-bellied eagle-owl is mainly a species of tropical and subtropical foothills, mainly being distributed at elevations of , though have been found at anywhere from sea-level to , the latter in the Transhimalayas.
Spot-bellied eagle-owl
The spot-bellied eagle-owl ("Bubo nipalensis"), also known as the forest eagle-owl is a large bird of prey with a formidable appearance. It is a forest-inhabiting species found in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. This species is considered part of a superspecies with the barred eagle-owl ("Bubo sumatranus"), which looks quite similar but is allopatric in distribution, replacing the larger spot-bellied species in the southern end of the Malay Peninsula and the larger island in Southeast Asia extending down to Borneo.
Eurasian woodcock
The Eurasian woodcock ("Scolopax rusticola") is a medium-small wading bird found in temperate and subarctic Eurasia. It has cryptic camouflage to suit its woodland habitat, with reddish-brown upperparts and buff-coloured underparts. Its eyes are set far back on its head to give it 360-degree vision and it probes in the ground for food with its long, sensitive bill, making it vulnerable to cold weather when the ground remains frozen.
Northern goshawk
Outside of the accipitrid group, heavy predation on different varieties of raptorial birds by northern goshawks can continue unabated. Many types of owl are taken and in Europe, the northern goshawk is the second most prolific predator of owls behind the Eurasian eagle owl ("Bubo bubo"). In Bavaria, Germany, the long-eared owl ("Asio otus") was the second most common prey species for nesting goshawks. In the Białowieża Forest of Poland, fairly high numbers of the tawny owl ("Strix alucco") were taken. In all, some 18 species of owl have been recorded in the diet, ranging in size from the Eurasian ("Glaucidium passerinum") and northern pygmy owls ("Glaucidium gnoma") at and , respectively, to all the large northern "Strix" owls including adults and even the great horned owl. Whether adults have ever been killed as prey though is unknown but goshawks have been known to kill great horned owls that they've found near their nests. In addition, about eight species of falcon have been identified in the foods of goshawks. Adult falcons of small species such as kestrels and merlins ("Falco columbarius") can be overpowered quite easily if they can manage to surprise the prey. Larger falcons have turned up in the diet as well, including the prairie falcon ("Falco mexicanus") and the saker falcon ("Falco cherrug"), although possible only nestlings of these species. Brief aerial skirmishes between goshawks and peregrine falcons ("Falco peregrinus") have been described but neither species is known to have killed one another in the wild. In Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, at least four small passerines species were recorded as nesting close to active goshawk nest, due to the incidental shelter that the fierce goshawks inadvertently provides from smaller raptors which are their main predators. Such raptors, including Eurasian kestrels, Eurasian sparrowhawks and long-eared owls, not only avoid goshawk activity where possible but also were found to have lower nest productivity any time they nested relatively close to goshawks per the study. A similar phenomenon, with goshawks inadvertently providing shelter to small passerines, has been recorded in North America as well.
Competition for northern goshawks can also come from mammalian carnivores. Martens, and to a lesser extent other weasels, are presumably one of their more major competitors as their diet often consists of similar prey primarily during spring and summer, tree squirrels and woodland birds, but little has been studied in terms of how the two types of predator effect each other. Most recorded interactions have been predatory, as the goshawk has been recorded preying on a dozen species, from the least weasel ("Mustela nivalis") to the stone marten ("Martes foina"). Northern goshawks have also been recorded as feeding on much bigger predators such as the red fox ("Vulpes vulpes"), the raccoon dog ("Nyctereutes procyonoides") and the striped skunk ("Mephitis mephitis"), but it is not clear whether these were actual kills, as many may be encountered as already dead carrion. Domestic carnivores are sometimes eaten, including dogs and cats, the latter of which has reportedly been taken alive by goshawks. The red fox is a surprisingly considerable competitor for resources with northern goshawks. It was found in Norway that goshawk numbers were higher when voles were at peak numbers, not due to voles as a food source but because foxes were more likely to eat the rodents and ignore grouse, whereas during low vole numbers the foxes are more likely to compete with goshawks over grouse as prey. A decrease of the fox population of Norway due to sarcoptic mange was found result in an increase of grouse numbers and, in turn, northern goshawks. In some areas, red foxes have been found to steal up to half of the goshawks’ kills.
Dietary biology of the Eurasian eagle-owl
The Eurasian eagle-owl may hunt at least 300 species of bird. In Europe, the most common avian prey species are the normally feral or domestic rock pigeons ("Columba livia"), although the common wood pigeon ("Columba palumbus") can be locally even more significant. In the Netherlands, the common wood pigeon is the most important prey species, making up 37.3% by number and 38.3% by biomass. Yet another, smaller study of the Netherlands found the rock pigeon to be the primary prey species. In a dietary study from Luxembourg, the common wood pigeon was the most frequent prey species, making 19% of the remains by number. A study from Romania listed the rock pigeon was the second most frequently recorded prey behind only the Romanian hamster and the largest contributed of biomass. Unusually, in the Netherlands, birds were the primary food in both number (77.6%) and biomass (72%). Also, in Luxembourg, eagle-owls hunted birds in general were more regularly than mammals, as nearly 70% of prey remains there were avian. At least six other species of pigeon and dove have also been recorded as prey. However, perhaps the most significant contributor of prey at the family level is the corvids and all available species have been targeted. The carrion crow ("Corvus corone") is the second most widely recorded avian prey species in Europe and, locally, good numbers are also taken of hooded crow ("Corvus cornix"), western jackdaws ("Corvus monedula"), Eurasian jays ("Garrulus glandarius"), common ravens ("Corvus corax"), rooks ("Corvus corone"), two species each of magpie and chough and the spotted nutcracker ("Nucifraga caryocatactes"), in rough descending order of reportage in the eagle-owl's diet. In Baden-Württemberg, Germany, the carrion crow was the most frequently recorded bird among an exceptionally diverse recorded prey base including than 65 bird species there (although birds only comprised 27% of the prey numbers overall). Unlike smaller passerines, corvids roost in numbers in relatively open spots, which make them fairly vulnerable to a predator as stealthy and powerful as the eagle-owl. More than 17 species of gamebirds have been recorded in the Eurasian eagle-owl's diet but they are normally taken in small numbers. There are, however, exceptions. In one study conducted in lower Austria, the most frequently identified prey species was the grey partridge ("Perdix perdix"), which is the most widely reported gamebird prey for eagle-owls in Europe. One study of a “primeval” forested region of Finland found various grouse species to be the most significant contributor of biomass, namely in descending order the western capercaillie ("Tetrao urogallus"), the black grouse ("Tetrao tetrix") and the hazel grouse ("Bonasa bonasia"). In inland areas of Norway, the large forest grouse were also significant biomass contributors. The same forest grouse species were also found to be significant to diet along the Pechora River in Russia. Other gamebirds can be important secondary prey species in different parts of Europe: the red-legged partridge ("Alectoris rufa") in western Europe, the rock partridge ("Alectoris graeca") and the rock ptarmigan ("Lagopus mutus") in alpine highlands, the ring-necked pheasant ("Phasianus colchicus") in eastern Europe and the willow ptarmigan ("Lagopus lagopus") in the sub-Arctic zone. In Turkey, the most significant prey by number was the chukar ("Alectoris chukar"), comprising 20.5% of remains. A Korean study in two habitat types (forest and field) found that ring-necked pheasants were the main prey species, making up an average of 19.33% by number and 34.81% by biomass. Other birds of prey are perhaps second only to pigeons and corvids amongst avian contributors to the diet (their ecological relationships with eagle-owls are explored in more detail below).
Among coastal and some wetland areas, various water birds can come to contribute a large portion of both prey numbers and prey biomass. This may include more than 50 species of shorebird (from the one of the smallest sandpipers to the largest species of gull), more than 30 species of waterfowl, more than 10 species of herons, more than 8 species of rails and any grebes, cormorants or other water birds that are available. The most regularly reported water bird prey in Europe were, roughly in this order, the common moorhens ("Gallinula chloropus"), the Eurasian coot ("Fulica atra"), mallards ("Anas platyrhynchos"), black-headed gull ("Chroicocephalus ridibundus"), and the Eurasian teal ("Anas crecca"). The diet of a handful of eagle-owl pairs in the Riau Islands Province of France were found to be dominated by water birds, especially the yellow-legged gull ("Larus michahellis"), the colonial abundance of which allowed the eagle-owls to atypically occupy these small islands. The diet of eagle-owls in Norway was dominated in coastal areas by water birds, overall for the nation 53% of the food was made of birds, the species most commonly identified as caught being the mew gull ("Larus canus"), common puffin ("Fratercula arctica") and common eider ("Somateria mollissima"). Despite access to large seabird breeding colonies, almost all large bird species hunted in Norway, including large forest grouse in more inland areas, were apparently fully-grown adults and most water birds were caught while resting on open coastal waters. Eagle-owls in northwestern Poland, an area heavily dotted with lakes, relied on birds for about 64% of the diet, more than half of which were water birds. The main prey species there was the Eurasian coot, at nearly 15% of the prey numbers. In Primorsky Krai in Russia, 53.2% of the food for the eagle-owls were made up of birds, predominantly water birds with the primary prey species being the crested auklet ("Aethia cristatella" ) (26.9%). In the Russian Far East, similarly, birds occupy up to 57.6% of the diet, a lion's share of which are water birds. In this study, the grey red-backed vole and reed vole ("Microtus fortis") were the most numerous identified individual species but in some years the extremely large Japanese cormorant ("Phalacrocorax capillatus"), at , were more numerous as prey than either vole. Water birds were found to be even more important in the diet in Korea, as in wetland habitat, with birds in general comprising 68.9% by number and 85.3% by biomass there, but in adjacent upland areas birds were slightly secondary to mammals, which made up 38.7% by number and 64.7% by biomass, led by the brown rat. In Korea, the mallard and the similar spot-billed duck ("Anas poecilorhyncha") made up 38.1% of the biomass. Other recorded bird species in the Eurasian eagle-owl's diet includes all type of birds found in their range, including bustards, sandgrouse, parrots, cuckoos, swifts, the hoopoe ("Upupa epops"), the European bee-eater ("Merops apiaster"), the common kingfisher ("Alcedo atthis"), the European roller ("Coracias garrulus"), at least seven species of woodpecker (from the smallest to the largest European species) and more than 80 species of passerine. Among passerines, the only family reported widely as prey besides corvids are thrushes. In the Italian Alps, "Turdus" species were the fourth most frequently recorded type of prey. In particular, the abundant Eurasian blackbird ("Turdus merula") is widely reported to be taken by eagle-owls. As thrushes are relatively small, at among the species known to be predated, pairs in the Italian Alps who depended more so on thrushes usually showed lower productivity during nesting attempts.
Eurasian scops owl
The Eurasian scops owl ("Otus scops"), also known as the European scops owl or just scops owl, is a small owl. This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls, Strigidae, which contains most species of owl. The other grouping is the barn owls, Tytonidae. The scientific name is from the Latin "otus" for an eared owl and Ancient Greek "skopos", "watcher".
Eurasian eagle-owl
The Eurasian eagle-owl has a very wide range across much of Europe and Asia, estimated to be about . In Europe there are estimated to be between 19,000 and 38,000 breeding pairs and in the whole world around 250,000 to 2,500,000 individual birds. The population trend is thought to be decreasing because of human activities, but with such a large range and large total population, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated the bird as being of "least concern". Although roughly equal in adaptability and wideness of distribution, the great horned owl, with a total estimated population of up to 5.3 million individuals, apparently has a total population that is roughly twice that of the Eurasian eagle-owl. Numerous factors, including a shorter history of systematic persecution, lesser sensitivity to human disturbance while nesting, somewhat greater ability to adapt to marginal habitats and widespread urbanization and slightly smaller territories, may play into the horned owls greater numbers in modern times.
Eurasian wolf
The Eurasian wolf ("Canis lupus lupus"), also known as the common wolf or Middle Russian forest wolf, is a subspecies of grey wolf native to Europe and the forest and steppe zones of the former Soviet Union. It was once widespread throughout Eurasia prior to the Middle Ages. Aside from an extensive paleontological and genetic record, Indo-European languages typically have several words for "wolf", thus attesting to the animal's abundance and cultural significance. It was held in high regard in Baltic, Celtic, Slavic, Turkic, ancient Greek, Roman, and Thracian cultures, whilst having an ambivalent reputation in early Germanic cultures.
Golden eagle
The ecozones occupied by golden eagles are roughly concurrent with those of Eurasia. In western and northern Alaska and northern Canada to the Ungava Peninsula in Quebec, the eagles occupy the Arctic fringe of North America (the species does not range into the true high Arctic tundra), where open canopy gives way to dwarf-shrub heathland with cottongrass and tussock tundra. In land-locked areas of the sub-Arctic, golden eagles are by far the largest raptor. From the Alaska Range to Washington and Oregon, it is often found in high mountains above the tree line or on bluffs and cliffs along river valleys below the tree line. In Washington state, golden eagles can be found in clear-cut sections of otherwise dense coniferous forest zones with relatively little annual precipitation. From east of the Canadian Rocky Mountains to the mountains of Labrador, the golden eagle is found in small numbers in boreal forest peatlands and similar mixed woodland areas. In the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in the United States are plains and prairies where golden eagles are widespread, especially where there's a low human presence. Here, grassland on low rolling hills and flat plains are typical, interrupted only by cottonwood stands around river valleys and wetlands where the eagles may build their nests. Golden eagles also occupy the desert-like Great Basin from southern Idaho to northern Arizona and New Mexico. In this habitat, trees are generally absent other than junipers with vegetation being dominated by sagebrush ("Artemisia") and other low shrub species. Although the vegetation varies a bit more, similar habitat is occupied by golden eagles in Mexico. However, golden eagles are typically absent in North America from true deserts, like the Sonora Desert, where annual precipitation is less than . Golden eagles occupy the mountains and coastal areas of California and Baja California in Mexico where hot, dry summers and moist winters are typical. The golden eagles here often nest in chaparral and oak woodland, oak savanna and grassland amongst low rolling hill typified by diverse vegetation. In the Eastern United States, the species once bred widely in the Appalachian Plateau near burns, open marshes, meadows, bogs and lakes. In Eastern North America, the species still breeds on the Gaspe Peninsula, Quebec. Until 1999, a pair of golden eagles were still known to nest in Maine but they are now believed to be absent as a breeding bird from the Eastern United States. The golden eagles who breed in eastern Canada winter on montane grass and heath fields in the Appalachian Plateau region, especially in Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia. Most sightings in the Eastern United States recently are concentrated within or along southwestern border of the Appalachian Plateau (30% of records) and within the Coastal Plain physiographic region (33% of records).
Eurasian eagle-owl
The Eurasian eagle-owl is largely nocturnal in activity, as are most owl species, with its activity focused in the first few hours after sunset and the last few hours before sunrise. In the northern stretches of its range, partial diurnal behaviour has been recorded, including active hunting in broad daylight during the late afternoon. In such areas, full nightfall is essentially non-existent at the peak of summer, so eagle-owls must presumably hunt and actively brood at the nest during daylight. The Eurasian eagle-owl has a number of vocalizations that are used at different times. It will usually select obvious topographic features such as rocky pinnacles, stark ridges and mountain peaks to use as regular song posts. These are dotted along the outer edges of the eagle-owl’s territory and they are visited often but only for a few minutes at a time. Vocal activity is almost entirely confined to the colder months from late fall through winter, with vocal activity in October through December mainly having territorial purposes and from January to February being primarily oriented towards courtship and mating purposes. The territorial song, which can be heard at great distance, is a deep resonant "ooh-hu" with emphasis on the first syllable for the male, and a more high-pitched and slightly more drawn-out "uh-hu" for the female. It is not uncommon for a pair to perform an antiphonal duet. The widely used name in Germany as well as some other sections of Europe for this species is "uhu" due to its song. At 250–350 Hz, the Eurasian eagle-owls territorial song or call is deeper, farther-carrying and is often considering "more impressive" than the territorial songs of the great horned owl or even that of the slightly larger Blakiston’s fish owl, although the horned owl’s call averages slightly longer in duration. Other calls include a rather faint, laughter-like "OO-OO-oo" and a harsh "kveck-kveck". Intruding eagle-owls and other potential dangers may be met with a "terrifying", extremely loud "hooo". Raucous barks not unlike those of ural owls or long-eared owls have been recorded but are deeper and more powerful than those species’ barks. Annoyance at close quarters is expressed by bill-clicking and cat-like spitting, and a defensive posture involves lowering the head, ruffling the back feathers, fanning the tail and spreading the wings.
Eurasian eagle-owl
While the eagle-owl remains reasonably numerous in some parts of its habitat where nature is still relatively little disturbed by human activity, such as the sparsely populated regions of Russia and Scandinavia, concern has been expressed about the future of the Eurasian eagle-owl in western and central Europe. There, very few areas are not heavily modified by human civilisation, thus exposing the birds to the risk of collisions with deadly man-made objects (e.g. pylons) and a depletion of native prey numbers due to ongoing habitat degradation and urbanisation.