Forest Eagle Owl Facts

There are magnificent owls, subtly beautiful owls and boldly patterned owls but few are as handsome as this bird. The Forest Eagle-owl has strikingly long, outspread “horns”, piercing dark eyes and splendid barred plumage. It is a large owl and a powerful predator, truly one of the great Eagle Owls.

Other birds and small mammals of the forest should indeed be wary of this owl. It can catch and overpower peafowl and junglefowl, pheasants, hares and occasionally even jackals and young barking deer. It has been well described as a “feathered tiger”!

Sadly this wonderful owl is now under threat from habitat destruction and human persecution. In India these owls, if found, are caught by poachers as they are in great demand for use in black magic. The wild population is unknown and there are only two owls known to be in captivity in the world, one here with us in the UK and one in Tokyo Zoo in Japan. Both are males and are now well over 25 years old. A hopeless situation.

This will probably be another specie of owl that will have been lost before we have even understood its biology. There is too little known for its conservation needs to be identified.