Great Horned Owl

Bubo virginianus

The great horned owl, also known as the tiger owl or the hoot owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an extremely adaptable bird with a vast range and is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas. Its diet consists primarily of rabbits and hares, rats and mice, and voles; it remains one of the few regular predators of skunk. Hunting also includes rodents, larger mid-sized mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 1,404,195 times across 93 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 27°C (typically 22 to 30°C, from 37 areas).

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in North America ranged from 30°N in June to 52°N in March, about 2,400 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.