Dusky Eagle Owl

(Bubo coromandus)

(Dusky Eagle Owl)

Size(56-58cm): It is a big Owl and very easy to recognise.

Area: N, NW, C and NE India south of Himalayas; absent in S India.

Habitat: Forests, leafy trees and close to human inhabitation.

My two words: It is a large owl with a pale grey-brown plumage and white spots on the upperparts. There are fine and long streaking on the breast and below. Ear-tufts distinctive. The eyes are yellow and fierce looking.

They are found mostly solitary or in pairs but sometimes three or four birds are scattered over a place. 

They are active mostly during the time of sunrise or sunset. The rest of the day they just sit around on a tree branch and rest. 

The nesting season starts from November and ends about near mid-March. The nest is made near water and preferably near human inhabitation.

House Crows are the daring birds which disturb this beast the most. 

(Dusky Eagle Owl being disturbed by House Crows)

Their diet includes small birds, small animals, insects, frogs and some rodents.

Their call is a deep woo…woo…woo…woo…woo…oo…o… which starts to fade towards the end.

(Dusky Eagle Owl at Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur)

It is a not a rare bird or an endangered one, in fact it is listed as ‘LC’ (Least Concern) in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, but still is not seen very often.

~Arjun Basandrai