Great Horned Owl
Whoooo’s there?
A big night hunter with feather “horns,” golden eyes and wings that whisper. When it flies, you can hardly hear a thing! Sample copy
General Information
- Common Name: Great Horned Owl
- Scientific Name: Bubo virginianus
- Animal Group: Bird
- Created Kind: Owl kind (family Strigidae)
- Day of Creation: Day 5 (Genesis 1:20–23)
- Length: About 18–25 inches (46–63 cm)
- Wingspan: About 3–5 feet (1–1.4 m)
- Weight: About 2–5½ pounds (0.9–2.5 kg)
- Diet: Mostly rabbits, rodents and birds; even skunks!
- Active Time: Mostly at night and at dusk
The great horned owl is one of the most widespread owls in the Americas. It lives almost anywhere it can find food and a safe place to nest. That includes deep forests, open deserts, farm country and city parks. Sample copy
Great horned owls usually don’t build nests of their own. They often take over old nests made by hawks, crows or squirrels, or use tree hollows, cliff ledges and even buildings. In many places they lay eggs in mid-winter, one of the earliest birds to nest each year.
Measurements are typical adult ranges; females are usually larger than males. Verify against current sources before publishing.
IUCN Conservation Status
The IUCN Red List helps us understand how likely an animal species is to disappear forever.
- This Animal’s Status: Least Concern (LC)
- Assessment Year: [check IUCN Red List]
- Population Trend: [check IUCN Red List]
Great horned owls live across a huge range, from Alaska to South America. Sample copy Confirm the current assessment year and trend on the IUCN Red List before publishing.
Habitat: Where Does It Live?
From Alaska and Canada across North and Central America and into parts of South America. Sample copy
It lives in forests, deserts, grasslands, swamps and even city parks. If there is food to hunt and a safe place to nest, a great horned owl can probably live there.
Fun Facts
- Those aren’t horns! The “horns” are tufts of feathers. Its real ears are hidden on the sides of its head.
- Look over your shoulder! An owl’s eyes can’t roll around like yours, so it turns its whole head, up to about 270 degrees!
- Pellet puzzle! Owls swallow food in big pieces, then cough up a neat pellet of fur and bones. Scientists study pellets to learn what owls eat.
- Fluffy owlets! Young owls are covered in soft, fluffy down before their adult feathers grow in.
- Wings wide open! Broad wings let it glide and swoop slowly and quietly.
Amazing Design Features
Silent Flight
Most birds make a whooshing sound when they flap. A great horned owl’s feathers are built to break up the air quietly, so it can hear its prey, and its prey can’t hear it coming. Sample copy
1 · Comb-like front edge: tiny stiff fringes along the leading edge break up the air rushing over the wing. 2 · Velvety surface: soft, fuzzy feathers muffle the rubbing sounds of flight. 3 · Fringed back edge: soft trailing fringes smooth the air as it leaves the wing.
Copying the Designer: engineers have studied owl wings to help design quieter fans and wind-turbine blades.
Eyes Made for the Dark
Huge, tube-shaped eyes gather lots of light. They face forward, which helps the owl judge distance.
A Face Like a Satellite Dish
The round “facial disk” of feathers helps funnel sound toward the owl’s ears.
A Hunter With the Right Tools
Strong, sharp talons grip prey tightly, and a hooked beak tears food into pieces. Like other owls, it often swallows small prey whole and later coughs up a pellet of the parts it can’t digest.
A Look at God’s Creation
Genesis 1 tells us God made every winged bird “according to its kind.” “So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:21 (NIV). Each owl’s silent wings, keen eyes and sharp hearing point to a wise Designer. “How many are your works, LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.” Psalm 104:24 (NIV)
Say hello to Owlex
Owlex is a Eurasian eagle-owl, a close cousin of the great horned owl in the same genus, Bubo. Owlex is one of the animal ambassadors at Genesis Animal Sanctuary in Johnson City, Tennessee, and visits schools, churches and events so kids can see God’s design up close. Sample copy
Stock photo shown. Swap in Genesis’s own photo of Owlex.
Sources
Owl copy is sample copy from the mockup. Check each fact against these sources before publishing.
Photo credits (Wikimedia Commons): Giles Laurent (CC BY-SA 4.0); USFWS Pacific (Public domain); Peter K Burian (CC BY-SA 4.0); Flickr user indygnome (CC BY 2.0). Full photo credits