Rock Eagle Owl Facts

In general, this owl is nocturnal but may be seen perched on top of an exposed rock well before sunset and after sunrise. During the day it will roost well hidden from view mainly in rock crevices, on ledges or even in ruined and abandoned buildings.

If intruders approach a nest with chicks the parents will often resort to diversionary tactics such as feigning a wing injury. In aggression both males and females will hiss menacingly, fluffing their plumage and spreading their wings, a posture displayed by many owls in such situations.

They will primarily take food such as field rats and mice but can take birds up to the size of peafowl. Reptiles, frogs, crabs and large insects also provide an element to their diverse diet. They mainly hunt from a perch sometimes in a low foraging flight a little like the Barn Owl.

This owl has been considered by many specialists to be a subspecies of the Eurasian Eagle Owl and observations of both species have therefore been merged. The Rock Eagle Owl is specifically distinct from the very similar but larger Eagle Owls whose subspecies turcomanus overlaps in range and lives with it sympatrically in Kashmir.

The Rock Eagle Owl is also known as the Bengal Eagle Owl and the Indian Eagle Owl.