“Great horned owls can rotate their heads far to the side, but not all the way around.”
Great horned owls are powerful nocturnal raptors found from Arctic treelines to tropical American forests and cities. Ear tufts form part of their silhouette rather than their hearing system, while large talons let them take prey from rodents to rabbits and other birds.
By An Nguyen · Published · Updated
Bubo virginianus Strigiformes Strigidae
Measured against the 176 species profiled on this site. Each figure is converted to one unit system from the published range on the page, so the ranks are computed, not quoted.
| Measure | This species | Rank here | Exceeds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body mass | 2.5 kg | #124 of 176#18 of 28 Aves | 30% |
| Body length | 63.5 cm | #120 of 176#20 of 28 Aves | 31% |
| Top speed | 64.4 km/h | #16 of 75#7 of 16 Aves | 73% |
| Lifespan in the wild | 15 yr | #89 of 169#20 of 28 Aves | 40% |
Closest in body mass
Ranks use the upper end of each published adult range, so they compare typical large adults rather than records, and metrics with no published number are left out rather than estimated. The full table is downloadable from the species dataset, and any two species can be put side by side in the comparison tool.
Browse photographs of great horned owl across habitat, behavior, anatomy, and life stages.
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Core article
A closer look at habitat, diet, behavior, reproduction, and conservation.
The great horned owl (Bubo virginianus) is a large nocturnal raptor found across the Americas. Its prominent feather tufts are not horns, and it has yellow eyes, broad wings, and a deep hoot. Soft-edged flight feathers let it approach prey almost silently. It occupies habitats ranging from boreal forest and desert to farmland and city parks.
The great horned owl is a heavily built raptor showing reversed sexual dimorphism — females larger than males — with adults 18 to 25 inches long, a 3.3-to-4.8-foot wingspan, and a weight of 2.5 to 5.5 pounds. Its tubular eyes are fixed in the sockets, so a flexible neck lets the head rotate as much as 270 degrees, and a dense layer of rod cells plus a reflective tapetum lucidum give sharp low-light vision. Its hearing is just as specialized: the flat, bowl-shaped facial disk works like a parabolic reflector, funneling the faintest rodent rustle into asymmetrically placed ear openings so the owl can pinpoint hidden prey in total darkness. The deadliest feature is the talons — a crushing grip that can take up to 28 pounds of force to open, enough to sever a spine — and comb-like serrations on the leading edges of the flight feathers break up turbulence to muffle the wingbeats for near-silent flight. It belongs to the typical-owl family Strigidae, genus Bubo (the eagle-owls), close kin to the Eurasian eagle-owl.
The great horned owl is widely distributed in the Americas, ranging from the boreal treeline of Alaska and northern Canada through the U.S. and Mexico into South America as far as Argentina and Brazil. It occupies temperate and boreal forest, grassland, desert, rainforest edge, mangrove swamp, city parks, and farmland where hunting perches and nest sites are available.
The great horned owl is an opportunistic apex predator whose diet follows locally available prey. It mostly takes small-to-medium mammals — rabbits, hares, rats, mice, and voles — but can kill larger animals and also preys on striped skunks. Birds in its diet include ducks, geese, crows, and other raptors. Its main tactic is perch-and-pounce: from a branch it listens for movement on the forest floor, then drops and grips prey with its talons. It swallows small prey whole and later regurgitates indigestible bones, fur, and feathers as a pellet.
Great horned owls are fiercely solitary and territorial outside the breeding season, holding large home ranges they defend aggressively against other owls and large raptors. Communication is largely acoustic and territorial: the classic deep "hoo-h'HOO-hoo-hoo" is used mainly by males to advertise territory and attract a mate, low enough to penetrate dense forest and carry for miles on a quiet night. Defending a nest, they snap their beaks, hiss, and flare their wings to look larger.
Great horned owls are among the earliest nesters in North America, often courting and breeding in the dead of winter with snow still on the ground. They build no nest of their own — they take over abandoned or forcibly stolen stick nests of red-tailed hawks, eagles, herons, or crows, or use tree hollows and cliff ledges. The female lays 2 to 3 dull white eggs and, because it's freezing, incubates almost continuously for 30 to 37 days while the male hunts and delivers food. The chicks hatch in dense white down, blind and helpless, and grow fast; around 6 weeks they begin "branching" — clambering onto nearby limbs before they can fly — achieving true flight at 9 to 10 weeks, though the parents keep defending and feeding them for months. Wild great horned owls typically live 13 to 15 years, some banded birds nearly 30.
The great horned owl is Least Concern, with a stable population estimated in the millions. Adults face few natural predators, though eggs and chicks may be taken. Human threats include secondary poisoning from anticoagulant rodenticides and vehicle collisions during low nighttime flights. The species remains widespread across the Western Hemisphere.
Great horned owls can rotate their heads far to the side, but not all the way around.
Special wing feathers help owls fly almost silently.
Their "horns" are really feather tufts, not ears.
A great horned owl's grip can be as strong as a large dog's bite.
Owls swallow small prey whole and later cough up pellets of fur and bone.
Their deep hoots can carry for miles on a quiet night.
Select a question to reveal the answer.
Great horned owls live in forests, deserts, grasslands, and even city parks from Canada and Alaska south through the Americas.
Owls are carnivores that eat rabbits, rats, mice, birds, and other small animals they catch with their talons.
Owls hoot to defend territory and communicate with mates. A great horned owl's deep hoot is one of the most familiar owl sounds.
Owls use excellent hearing and night vision. They perch quietly, listen for prey, then swoop down with silent wings.
Great horned owls are listed as Least Concern and remain widespread. Local threats include car strikes and habitat loss.
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