African Spotted Eagle Owl

African Spotted Eagle Owl

Bubo africanus

Description:
Medium to large owl with prominent ear tufts. Upper-parts dusky brown with pale spots, under-parts whitish and finely barred. Facial disk whitish to pale ochre. A more rufous morph exists in more arid areas.

Size:
45cm, 480-850g

Range:
Africa south of the equator, and parts of the Arabian Peninsula.

Habitat:
Savannah, rocky outcrops, scrub, open and semi-open woodland, semi-deserts.

Food:
Invertebrates, small mammals, birds and reptiles.

Breeding:
July-February, 2-4 eggs laid in scrape on the ground, normally sheltered by a bush, grass or rocks. Incubation 32 days. Young leave nest by about 5 weeks and are fledged by 7 weeks, but remain with parents for at least another 5 weeks.

Call:
Song is normally 1 or 2 double hoots, followed by a 3 syllable hoot and then 1 long drawn out hoot “hoo-hoo buhuhu-hoooh”

Status:
Not globally threatened, widespread and locally common. The status of the race milesi is unknown.

Races:
Formerly included B.cinerascens as a race, but morphologically distinct with no evidence of interbreeding where the ranges overlap. The exact status of the milesi race is unclear and it may represent a distinct species. Other races have been described but probably represent individual variation.

B.a.africanus:
Sub-equatorial Africa from Kenya and Uganda south to the Cape