Great Gray Owl chicks. Great Gray Owl - description, habitat, interesting facts. Appearance and distribution
Detachment - owls
Family - real owls
Genus/Species - Strix nebulosa. Great Gray Owl
Basic data:
DIMENSIONS
Length: 63-66 cm.
Wingspan: 131-140 cm.
Weight: 850-1200
BREEDING
Puberty: from 2 years old.
Nesting period: from April.
Carrying: 1 per season.
Number of eggs: 3-6.
Incubation: 28-35 days.
Feeding chicks: 20-30 days.
LIFESTYLE
Habits: Great Gray Owl (see photo of an owl) keeps alone in winter, in spring and summer birds keep in family groups or large flocks.
Food: small mammals, passerines.
Lifespan: 6 years.
RELATED SPECIES
The closest relative is the long-tailed owl.
The Great Gray Owl can survive the freezing winter in boreal forests thanks to its soft and dense plumage. She silently glides over the ground in search of prey or waits for it, hiding on a high branch, and reacts to even the slightest rustling in the grass.
BREEDING
The Great Gray Owl does not build its own nest, but uses the abandoned nests of hawks, kites or ravens. Eggs can be hidden in a stump or rotten tree trunk at a height of about 1.5 m from the ground. If there are enough abandoned nests, then several pairs divide even a small territory among themselves. Pairs that nest, behave non-aggressively towards each other and respect the rights of neighbors to the site. However, they attack all aliens that appear within their nesting territory. The female begins incubation with the laying of the first egg, and the male gets food all this time and brings it to the female. The chicks appear at intervals of several days. The difference between the oldest and youngest baby can be about two weeks. The down of young Tawny Owls is light gray on the upper side of the body, and whitish on the underside. The chicks hatch blind and deaf. At first, they do not even know how to regulate their body temperature, so they are completely dependent on their mother, who constantly warms them. The chicks call for food by emitting a faint squeak, and then a shrill, sharp "ooh-ix". Parents feed them small pieces of meat, later give them whole prey. The chicks stay with their parents throughout the autumn.
LIFESTYLE
The Great Gray Owl lives in the north in pine, spruce and larch forests of Sweden, Finland and Poland to Eastern Siberia. Birds are also found in Alaska, Canada and the northern United States.
Owl migrations do not depend on the time of year, but on the amount of prey, mainly and, whose populations are subject to significant seasonal fluctuations. If food is scarce, then the entire population of bearded owls migrates south, for example, northern European birds fly to southern Sweden to find rich sources of food. Some pairs are sedentary, but when food is scarce, they do not nest. The bearded owl is active both during the day and at night.
However, even during the day it is difficult to see it, because its wings, painted in gray, and a pattern of small spots that resembles the surface of the bark of a tree, perfectly camouflage the bird on the tree. The Great Gray Owl is most active at dusk, when the long shadows make it almost invisible. She flies out of the shelter silently, as soon as she notices the prey.
WHAT DOES THE TOWN OWL FEED
The Great Gray Owl preys mainly on bush voles, other species also become its prey - gray and red voles, shrews and birds, sometimes also squirrels, lemmings, moles, and even weasels. The hunting area of the Great Owl covers meadows, swamps, forest glades and peat bogs.
The bearded owl often sits on branches at the edge of the forest and looks out for prey. She can turn her head 180°, which, combined with excellent vision, allows her to best observe what is happening around her. When hunting, the bearded owl also uses its excellent hearing. She hears quiet sounds and squeaks of mice in the grass. The Great Gray Owl is able to determine the position of the victim even under a thick layer of loose snow and, without missing, grab the prey with its legs stretched forward, armed with long, curved and sharp, like daggers, claws.
- The Great Gray Owl is hiding, motionless on a tree branch not far from the trunk. So its feathers merge with the bark of the tree, and the bird becomes like a protruding twig.
- Tawny owl chicks often act like little cannibals. The oldest and strongest of them, when there is not enough food, can eat their younger and weaker brothers and sisters.
- The Great Gray Owl is the largest of the owls, but it owes its size primarily to its plumage. In fact, the Great Gray Owl weighs almost half as much as other owls of the same size.
CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF THE TOWN OWL
Head: large, with a clear facial disc formed by dark gray concentric circles with white eyebrows and a black beard. Small eyes give the bird an almost demonic look.
Legs: with sharp, curved claws, with which the bird catches prey.
- Habitat of the bearded owl
WHERE Dwells
The Great Gray Owl is found in Europe and northern Asia, from northern Sweden in the west to northeastern Siberia, and also in North America.
PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION
The population of this owl changes annually, depending on the number or lemmings. In addition, the bearded one is threatened with the destruction of its habitats.
The Great Owl eats a mouse by turning its head 180 degrees. Video (00:02:03)
The Great Owl eats a mouse by turning its head 180 degrees and back.
I saw the Great Owl at the zoo in Prague, where animals live in enclosures, where there is a lot of space - trees, ponds, mountains - everything is like in wildlife. The bearded owl eats the mouse so cool and twists its head without crunching - you are simply amazed.
Great Gray Owl (Strix nebulosa). Video (00:01:20)
Bearded Owl. Video (00:00:20)
Strix nebulosa in Russia. A pair of Great Gray Owls breeding on a nesting platform. Nizhny Novgorod Region. 2012. Shot on Canon 60 D+EF 100-400 L
Voices of birds - Great Gray Owl (Strix nebulosa). Video (00:00:52)
Great Gray Owl (lat. Strix nebulosa)
Big-headed owl, smoky-gray coloring without red tones. The eyes are yellow with dark concentric stripes around. A black spot under the beak, similar to a beard, for which this species got its name. The underside of the wing is striped
It lives in the taiga zone, sometimes in mountain forests. Distributed from the Kola Peninsula to the mountains of Primorye. From the borders of tall forest in the north to East Prussia, the Baltic states, the central strip of the European part of Russia (about 52 ° north latitude). It is also found in Siberia to Transbaikalia, the Amur region, Sakhalin and Mongolia. In winter occasionally appears in the Middle lane.
BEARDED TOWN-OWL. Video (00:01:52)
Princess of the World - kind, positive, sociable! In any society, he strives to be in the center of attention, easily converges with people. Confident and damn attractive! Energy is in full swing, while it is absolutely harmless.
Communication with her will melt the heart of any person. She can sit on you at any time and start brushing your hair in a caring way.
- likes to run to the upper hall and look out the window, watching the crows
- sometimes hunts for shoes
- loves to swim
Year of birth: 2017
Scientific Information on Owls
Systematics:
Russian name– Great Owl
Latin name– Strix nebulosa
English name– Lapland (great gray) owl
Detachment– Owls
Family- Real owls
The specific name "nebulosa" comes from the Latin "Nebulosus" meaning nebula or foggy. Among the names of this owl there are very interesting and unusual ones, for example, a large gray ghost, a phantom of the North, an ashy owl, a sooty owl.
The status of the species in nature
The Great Gray Owl is a protected species (CITES Convention). It is protected by local and regional legislation of those countries in which the species lives. In Russia, this owl is listed in the Red Books of many regions and republics.
To preserve the Great Gray Owl, it is necessary to promote its protection and strictly observe the ban on its shooting.
To attract this owl, artificial nests are arranged from branches, which owls willingly occupy.
View and person
Living mainly in the taiga zone, the Great Gray Owl has little direct contact with humans. However, cutting down old forests has a negative effect on its distribution (it has become rare in some parts of its range). In addition, owls die on the roads and from electric shock in collisions with power lines. The direct shooting of birds does not stop either, especially since in some regions of Siberia and the Far East the meat of the gray owl is considered a delicacy.
The Great Gray Owl is the symbol of the Canadian province of Manitoba.
Spreading
The Great Gray Owl lives in the taiga zone of Eurasia and North America. In Russia, it is found on the territory from the Kola Peninsula to Chukotka and northern Sakhalin.
The main habitats are taiga forests with swamps and burnt areas, on which the owl hunts; rarely found in mountain forests.
Leads a sedentary lifestyle, but in years of low rodent abundance, migrations beyond the borders of the nesting range are possible.
Appearance
The Great Owl is a large bird, body length reaches 80 cm, wingspan - 1.5 m, but the weight is quite small - 700-800 g in males and a little more than 1 kg in females.
The general coloration of the body is smoky gray with a large number of dark stripes; red tones in plumage are completely absent.
The head is large, with a large (diameter up to 40 cm) and well-developed facial disc. The eyes are bright yellow, relatively small, and surrounded by dark concentric circles. There are no feather ears on the head. Under the beak there is a black spot similar to a beard, for which the owl got its name. A white "collar" is clearly visible on the neck.
The tail is long, wedge-shaped.
Like all owls, the plumage is loose and dampens the sound of air currents, which makes the flight of these large owls completely silent.
Feeding and feeding behavior
The basis of nutrition of the gray owl is small rodents, they account for 80-90% of the diet. She also catches squirrels, birds, frogs and even large insects. According to Finnish ornithologists, one owl kills about 700 mice and voles in 6 summer months.
The Great Gray Owl hunts early in the morning or in the evening, but it can also hunt at night and even during the day, especially in winter. In the spring, with the onset of longer days, the Tawny Owls move to hunt at dusk. Most often, it hunts from ambush, sitting on a tree and carefully observing, and most importantly, listening to what is happening in the nearest clearing, swamp or clearing. For hunting the Great Gray Owl, it is necessary to have open, forest-free areas. The main "weapon" when hunting the gray owl is excellent hearing and claws. An owl by hearing determines the presence of a prey, even if it is not on the surface, but at a depth of up to 30 cm under snow or underground. Then she flies off the branch and grabs her prey with lightning speed with her claws. Often, from one perch within a radius of 20-25 cm, the gray owl manages to get 4-6 animals. If the place is chosen unsuccessfully, then after 10-20 minutes. the owl smoothly flies to another tree. If the density of rodents is low, the Great Gray Owl hunts using the search flight method. It slowly flies around the hunting area at a height of 2.5-5 m and also determines the presence of prey by ear.
Like other owls, the Great Owl often hunts near the nest, and only the lack of food here forces it to fly away.
The daily requirement of this owl for food is 150-160 g.
Activity
The Great Gray Owl can be active at any time of the day, but prefers the morning and evening twilight hours. In winter, when daylight is short, the owl hunts even during the daytime. This is perhaps the most "daytime" of our owls.
The Great Gray Owl does not tolerate heat well, so in the summer during the hottest hours, it hides in the shade among the branches on a tree. At the same time, she opens her wings, rises on her paws and fluffs her plumage, as if for “airing”.
Vocalization
The voice of the gray owl is a loud trumpet hum, with each subsequent “woo” lower in tone than the previous one. This scream repeats every 15-30 seconds. and in good weather it can be heard at a distance of up to 800 m. Near the nest, these owls make a different sound, higher and more sonorous.
social behavior
Tawny Owls are territorial birds, but the hunting grounds of neighboring pairs may overlap. Under favorable feeding conditions, the density of nesting gray owls can reach 58 pairs per 1 ha. In case of danger, neighboring couples often unite to repulse the disturber of the peace.
To other species of owls and to diurnal birds of prey encountered in their hunting areas, the Great Owl is very tolerant.
Reproduction and parenting behavior
Pairs of gray owls are permanent and probably form for life.
Nesting starts early. The mating calls of males in the southern parts of the range are heard already in February, in the northern parts - in March-April. Courtship is expressed in mutual feeding and cleaning of plumage, however, more often, the male brings food and treats the female. Then the male chooses a territory and notifies the female about it. She inspects several sites before
than stops at the most appropriate. Tawny owls usually use other people's nests - buzzards, goshawks or ravens, located high in the trees. Unlike other owls, tawny owls renovate and improve an old alien nest. They use pine needles, reindeer hair, moss and pieces of bark as fresh bedding.
With an interval of 1-2 days, the female lays 2 to 5 white eggs. Incubation begins with the first egg and lasts 28-30 days. Only the female incubates, although there is evidence that the male may occasionally change her on the nest. The female incubates very densely; almost does not leave the nest, while she slightly raises her tail and spreads her wings and looks more like a hatching chicken than an owl. The male hunts most of the time and feeds only the female at first, and then the chicks. Hatched chicks are dressed in white down and, unlike other owls, develop rather slowly. At first, the female breaks the brought prey and feeds the chicks, and then they learn to do it themselves, and then the female also begins to hunt. Adult tawny owls at the nest are very aggressive, boldly attack and claw, trying to hit on the head, even a person and a bear.
The chicks leave the nest at the age of 3-4 weeks and begin to learn to fly. They fully fledge after 8 weeks, but remain at the nest for several more months. Parents continue to feed and protect them.
Lifespan
Bearded owls are long-lived birds. In captivity, they lived up to 40 years, in nature, of course, their life is shorter.
General characteristics and field signs
Of all the owls, the bearded one is the largest. Its wingspan is slightly less than 1.5 m. The impression of significant size is enhanced by the relatively large length and width of the wings, the relatively large tail and the exceptional friability of plumage. In this regard, given the generally brown color of this bird, at dusk it is easy to confuse it even with such owls as the eagle owl and the fish owl, although the latter are undoubtedly larger, more powerful and more than twice as heavy.
In addition to its large size, in the field the Great Gray Owl is distinguished by a clear large-headedness. Through binoculars, one can also see an exceptionally perfect facial disc, mottled with dark brown concentric stripes, which is not observed in our other owls. In addition, light areas are clearly visible on its facial disk - crescents diverging from its center, and a dark wedge of feathers under the beak, which gave the name to this bird. Unlike all other species of owls, the iris of the eyes of the gray owl is light yellow. These eyes, in combination with the facial disc, give the owl not a “wise”, but rather a “silly-surprised” look.
The flight is easy, the flapping of the wings is unhurried, as if lazy. Despite its large size, the bird confidently flies in the forest, as with partially open wings it is able to rush between the trunks at high speed, avoiding a collision with them. However, the Great Owl is characterized by a slow, maneuverable, often planning flight from one perch to another or a similar search drift above the ground itself. During such a flight, even in dense twilight, light spots are visible on the underside of the wing at the very fold of the brush, as if glowing in the dark. There is even an opinion (Wahlstedt, 1969) that these spots have a signal value for recognizing each other by members of the species.
This owl is active mainly at dusk, although it often hunts during the day. Inhabits forests of the taiga type, often on the border with vast raised moss swamps, near deciduous marshes, old burnt areas and clearings.
Description
Coloring. The final plumage of adult birds is generally light brown, smoky gray, with numerous streaks. The latter are formed both due to the lighter and darker colors of individual feathers and their parts. The dorsal side appears grayish or ocher and has a longitudinal brown spotting. Vertex and nape with buffy tint and dark brown longitudinal and transverse pattern. The same pattern is noticeable on the shoulder and wing coverts, where, in addition to it, the light outer webs of feathers sometimes form clear transverse bands. Breast, belly and sides are light gray, with rare irregular brown spotting, sometimes forming discontinuous longitudinal rows. The flight feathers are dark brown, with light transverse stripes, especially developed on the inner webs. The tail fins are brown, with light whitish streaks, creating an irregular, “marbled” pattern. The facial disc is whitish, with sharp dark brown concentric circles. The inner and partially lower edges of the disk are framed with almost white feathers, which create a pattern in the form of two crescents touching backs. The mandible (throat) is black-brown, in the form of a wedge ("beard").
The iris of the eyes in sexually mature individuals is bright lemon-yellow, less often orange-yellow. The beak is light, yellowish. Nails are blackish.
Newly hatched chicks are almost completely covered with thick, light, almost white fluff. Its coloration has a noticeable gray tint, mainly on the back. The skin on the body is pinkish-brown, on the paws it is pale yellowish, the claws are dark steel, the beak is brown-gray, pinkish at the base, the iris is brown-violet.
The mesoptile on the upper and lower sides of the body is more or less the same - brownish, with a light transverse pattern, forming a characteristic frequent striping, especially noticeable on the chest and sides. In this outfit, the future facial disc, apart from a small dark spot between the beak and the eye, is light gray. In the future, this area, even in semi-fledged chicks, is covered with dark brown feathers, forming, as it were, a mask, the contrast of which increases due to significantly lighter feathers on its periphery. The flight feathers and tail feathers that appear simultaneously with the mask are practically indistinguishable in color from those in the final outfit.
The juvenile plumage, which is preserved in fledglings for almost the entire first year of life, is generally similar in color to the final plumage. However, with some skill, it is still possible to distinguish an old bird from a young one: the color of the first-year plumage is generally darker, more saturated. The iris of the eyes during the first year changes from brownish to light yellow. At the same time, the beak brightens, acquiring a transparent horny yellowness, the claws darken, becoming almost black.
Structure and dimensions
The Great Gray Owl is a highly specialized myophage, which is reflected in its structure. Compared to other members of the genus, it has a slender body and lightweight skeletal structure. Despite its large size, it has relatively weak legs, the feathered fingers of which have long, but thin and slightly curved claws. Such a paw is perfectly adapted for catching small mobile rodents on the ground or in the snow, but is less suitable for grasping and holding large prey, as well as birds.
The Great Gray Owl is one of the large-headed owls of Eurasia. However, her eyes are extremely small - only 12-13 mm in diameter. This can be explained by a shift in bird activity to daytime hours, which is ultimately associated with adaptation to living in northern latitudes. The Great Gray Owl sees excellently even in the dazzling glow of snow on a clear March day, and there are observations that in such conditions it notices a vole in the snow from 200 m away.
The specificity of hunting (mainly using hearing) led to the maximum possible development of the facial disc, to the asymmetry of the auditory apparatus, which in this case captures not only the soft tissues of the auditory part of the head, but also the temporal part of the skull (Norberg, 1977). The flight of this owl is light, maneuverable and completely silent. This is achieved not only by the exceptional softness of the plumage, the relatively large dimensions of the bearing surfaces, but also by the low load on them. So, in terms of the length and width of the wing, the gray owl among our owls is slightly inferior except to the common and fish owl. At the same time, the weight load on the wing is at least 2 times less and is only 0.35 g/cm2 (Briill, 1964).
The wings are long and blunt (wing formula: IV-V-VI-III-II-I; not counting the rudimentary flywheel), their length in males (n = 38) is 405-477 mm (average 440), in females (n = 83) - 438–483 mm (average 460). The tail length of males is 290-330 mm. The tail has a rounded shape - the central helmsmen are 50 mm longer than the outer ones. Weight of males (n = 36) - 660-1110 g (average 878); females (n = 46) - 977-1900 g (average 1182) (Dementiev, 1936; Mikkola, 1983). In years that are unfavorable in terms of food, as observations in Sweden have shown (Hoglund and Lansgren, 1968), weight can be significantly reduced, in some cases by 40%.
The females of the Great Gray Owl are much larger than the males. This is also clearly seen in field observations, when the birds meet in pairs, for example, at the nest. However, observing them separately, it is still difficult to determine the sex.
Moult
Like other owls, there is a successive change of outfits: downy - mesoptile - first annual (final in color, but combined in composition) - second annual or final, etc. In the first annual outfit, flight, tail and large coverts remain from the previous one wings (Dementiev, 1951). In subsequent molts, all feathers are replaced. In this case, the change of flight feathers goes from the inner edge of each batch of feathers to the outer.
The molting of adults proceeds quite intensively - in May, for example, in the entire North-West of Russia, birds are still preparing for it, and in October it is already possible to meet individuals who have completely completed it. In the Krasnoyarsk Territory (Kislenko and Naumov, 1972), the height of molting in adults occurs in July - the first ten days of September, when all large and small feathers are intensively changing. Birds molt at similar times in the Primorsky Territory of the Far East.
Thus, the molt of the Great Gray Owl proceeds mainly after the completion of nesting, during the period of brood driving, and practically ends by the time of its disintegration.
Subspecies taxonomy
The variability is insignificant and manifests itself mainly in the degree of saturation of the plumage color. Two subspecies are distinguished: - Eurasian and nominative North American S. n. nebulosa (2). The latter is distinguished by a relatively dark general coloration with a predominance of brown-brown and bright ocher tones. In Vost. Europe and North. Asia is ubiquitous with birds belonging to the Eurasian subspecies.
1. Strix nebulosa lapponica
Strix lapponica Thunberg, 1798, Kondl. Venensk. Acad., nya Handl., 19, p. 184, Lapland, Sweden.
Relatively light plumage with a predominance of brown tone. The dark pattern on the underside of the body is less blurry and more contrasting. It is generally accepted that this form is distributed throughout the taiga zone, from the western to the eastern borders.
There are indications (Dementiev, 1936) that some individuals from Fr. Sakhalin, as well as from Anadyr, are identical in plumage color with the American S. n. nebulosa. At one time, S. A. Buturlin (1928) even identified them as a special subspecies - S. n. sakhalinensis. In any case, the striking similarity of these birds with American ones suggests their penetration from continent to continent in our day.
Spreading
Nesting area. This species circumpolarly inhabits the boreal zone of the Northern Hemisphere. In Vost. Europe and North. Asia can be found from Belarus to the headwaters of the Anadyr, the Okhotsk coast and Sakhalin. The northern boundary is determined by finds on the Kola Peninsula, the Kanin Peninsula (near the Arctic Circle), on the river. Ob (64°), in bass. R. Taz (65°), on Khatanga (72°), in bass. R. Yana (69°) and Sredne-Kolymsk. To the north of the marked line, the Great Gray Owl appears only during non-breeding time, making irregular roams. In the south it reaches Lithuania (now apparently absent here), Ukrainian Polissya, further to the east the southern border runs along Smolensk, the northern part of the Moscow, Ryazan and Nizhny Novgorod regions, Tatarstan, Bashkiria, Tyumen, north-east. Altai, Tuva (along the southern slopes of the Sayan Mountains), the Amur Region (Amur-Zeisky Plateau and the Amgun River), the Jewish Autonomous Region and Middle Primorye (the Bikin River; Pukinsky, 1977). In Primorye, the border descends at least to 46°N. In some years, the Tawny Owl may be encountered, probably further south, up to the state border of Russia. On Sakhalin, tawny owls are distributed up to the middle part of this island (Fig. 17).
Figure 17.
The southern boundary of distribution to the east of the Urals is determined by the following finds. Until 1983, no nesting facts were known in Bashkortostan (Ilyichev and Fomin, 1988); N. M. Loskutova (1985) and in the north-east of the republic (Shepel, Lapushkin, 1995). To the south, in the Volga-Kama Territory, the Great Gray Owl is rare and appears only in winter: single migrations of birds are known for the Penza Region, Tatarstan and Mari El (Kulaeva, 1977). In the Smolensk region Great Gray Owl by the beginning of the 20th century. preserved mainly only in the north, in more forested areas (Grave, 1926). Nesting at the end of the 19th century was established by P.P. Sushkin (1917), later no information about the species was received. For the Tver region V. I. Zinoviev et al. (1990) cite only two findings of nesting owls of this species for the period from 1965 to 1990. Later observations (Nikolaev, 1995) established that birds are found almost throughout the region, most regularly in the areas of large forest-bog massifs of Valdai and adjacent lowlands. The breeding center was found on the border of the Tver and Moscow regions. within the state complex "Zavidovo". Based on summer records, nesting of the Great Owl is assumed in the Central Forest Reserve. (Avdanin, 1985).
In the Yaroslavl region the modern status of the species is unclear; earlier (Kuznetsov, 1947) this owl was considered a rare nesting species. Until 1992, in the Moscow region, 5 finds of the Great Gray Owl were known in the autumn-winter period (Ptushenko, Inozemtsev, 1968), later, in 1992-1993, birds were found in the nesting season in the northeast and northwest of the region, and nesting was established in 1994 (Volkov, Konovalova, 1994; Nikolaev, 1995; Volkov, 2000). In general, this owl is extremely rare in the Moscow region. In the Vladimir region until the mid 1990s. only stray sightings were also known (Kroshkin, 1959; Ptushenko and Inozemtsev, 1968; Volkov and Konovalova, 1994). Now the nesting of the species has been reliably proven for the Petushinsky district, where, apparently, the group lives, which captures in its distribution the neighboring areas of the Moscow Region. (Volkov et al., 1998). In the Ryazan region nesting recorded for the first time in 2001 in Oksky zap. (Ivanchev, Nazarov, 2003). In the Nizhny Novgorod region the first discovery of a nest has been known since 1992 (Bakka, 1998). As a nesting species, this owl here and in the neighboring Ivanovo region. (Gerasimov et al., 2000; Buslaev, in press) rare, somewhat more common in the autumn-winter period during seasonal migrations.
Outside East. Europe and North. Asia, in the Old World, the gray owl is found in the North. Norway, Sweden, Finland (63-64°N) and possibly Poland. In the New World, this owl inhabits the North. America - from the Center. Alaska to west Quebec. Here the boundary of distribution rises to the north approximately to the Arctic Circle. In the south, it passes somewhere in the region of 50 ° north latitude. (Stepanyan, 1975) (Fig. 18).
Figure 18.
a - breeding area. Subspecies: 1 - S. n. lapponica, 2 - S. n. nebulosa.
wintering
As such, they are known only in birds from the American continent, which more or less regularly move south for the winter. At the same time, their wintering zone begins immediately beyond the southern limit of the nesting range and occupies a space from approximately 50 to 30 ° N. On the territory of the East Europe and North. In Asia, departures outside the main nesting range are exceptional, irregular in timing and, apparently, in essence close to classical migrations, to which many highly specialized species are prone. However, this issue in relation to the Great Gray Owl has been poorly studied.
Migrations
The degree of settlement or mobility of the gray owl requires special study. The need for this is explained by the fact that, along with the nesting of this owl in new places, the facts (both in Europe and in Asia) of the long-term use of both a certain nesting area and the same nest by a pair are well known. In Leningrad oblast, for example, having occupied a far from optimal biotope in a suburban area, one of the pairs stayed on it for at least five years in a row. Similar data are also available for the nearby territories - the Arkhangelsk region. (Parovshchikov and Sevastyanov, 1960), the Komi Republic (Sevastyanov, 1968), Finland and Sweden (Merikallio, 1958; Mikkola, 1983), as well as Siberia (Kislenko and Naumov, 1972) and the Far East (our observations).
To this we add that there are cases when, due to a lack of food in some year, individual territorial pairs did not take part in breeding, but did not leave their nesting area. All this indicates that at least the old individuals of this species are inclined to a sedentary life. All in. In America, 18 nesting attempts by 9 pairs of Great Gray Owls were tracked using radio telemetry (Bull and Henjum, 1990). 39% of them nested in the same nests that they used in the past season, another 39% - no further than 1 km from the previous nest. Only 22% of pairs moved more than 1 km from the old nest. The average distance between old and new nests of the same pair of owls during successive nesting attempts was 1.3 km, with a spread of 0.2 to 4.5 km.
At the same time, one cannot pass over in silence the numerous facts of the appearance of birds in places where they were previously reliably absent. Such colonization sometimes involves a large number of individuals at once. This leads to a sharp increase in the number of the local population, especially noticeable in places where the species had previously been rare for a long time. This was observed, for example, in the 1970s. almost throughout the North-West of Russia (Malchevsky, Pukinsky, 1983). Most likely, this phenomenon is a consequence of the directed dispersion of one-year-old individuals, which initially tend to get into the areas richest in food and concentrate in them. In practice, this translates into significant movements of birds, as a result of which the young move away hundreds of kilometers from their birthplaces, which has been proven by ringing for birds in Finland (Korpimaki, 1986). The most active development of new spaces occurs in October-November. Shortly before this, in August-September, the natural expansion of the young occurs, starting after the decay of the broods (Malchevsky, Pukinsky, 1983).
The size of the occupied area can be quite large, up to 3.2 km in diameter. It is also known that in years of food abundance, the size of the area is sharply reduced (Pitelka et al., 1955; Lockie, 1955; Blondel, 1967). In the Far East, in bass. Bikin, in 1969, during the mass reproduction of rodents, 4 pairs of gray owls lived on a larch mari with an area of only 1.5-2.0 km2. The hunting routes of these birds constantly intersected; often owls watched for victims 100-150 m from one another, not paying attention to the actions of a neighbor, and all of them successfully completed breeding. According to the tracking data for birds tagged with radio transmitters, the ranges of males ranged from 1.3 to 6.5 km2, with an average of 4.5 km2 (Bull and Henjum, 1990).
habitat
In the vast range of the species, the biotopes occupied by individual pairs are quite diverse. However, in all cases, the Great Gray Owl remains a true taiga bird, although compared, for example, with the Ural Owl, it tends to lighter, lower-density stands. In the European part of its range, it prefers to settle in overmature mixed forests (spruce, pine, birch, aspen) near the edges. It often settles in forests of the urem type, enclosing swampy clearings or raised moss bogs. Here, the Great Gray Owl settles not only in the zone of high forest edges, but also on large forest islands.
On the Kola Peninsula, in Karelia and the Arkhangelsk region. (for example, in Prionezhye), old pine forests often turn out to be a favorite biotope: swampy vakhtosphagnum pine forests with a significant admixture of birch and individual spruces, maturing lingonberry pine forests, as well as similar in composition, but clearly sparse hilly stands, torn apart by outcrops of rocky outcrops. The mountain coniferous taiga is generally used by this species both on the Kola Peninsula and in Altai, in the East. Siberia and other regions. In the Republic of Komi (Sevastyanov, 1968), this owl most readily occupies birch-spruce-fir mixed forests with an abundance of oxalis in the ground cover. In the Krasnoyarsk Territory (Kislenko, Naumov, 1972) and in Yakutia (Vorobiev, 1963), as in most other regions of Siberia, the Great Gray Owl prefers to settle in light larch forests. It inhabits similar biotopes in the extreme southeast of its distribution in the Ussuri region. Here, this owl usually nests in light single-story forest stands of the “northern type”, birch-larch groves growing around larch mars, squeezed by mountains, or on swampy burnt areas. On Sakhalin, it inhabits spruce-fir and larch forests (Nechaev, 1991).
population
In general, it is a fairly common bird in its range. However, in most densely populated areas of Europe it is certainly rare. So, in the Belarusian forests, the Great Gray Owl was more or less common at the end of the century before last (Taczanowski, 1873; Menzbier, 1882) and even at the beginning of our century (Shnitnikova, 1913) was considered "not particularly rare." But by the early 1960s. its nesting here is already being questioned (Fedyushin, Dolbik, 1967). In Belovezhskaya Pushcha, she met relatively regularly for nesting only until the 1930s. (Strautman, 1963).
The distribution of the Great Gray Owl in the European territory of Russia has a mosaic character and is a series of areas where birds are relatively frequent, while in the rest of the territory they have a low population density, and in vast areas they are completely absent. In the Nizhne-Svirsky zap. (area 35 thousand ha) in the east of the Leningrad region, according to M. V. Patrikeev (1991, 1998), the number of gray owls is estimated at 12-15 pairs, locally nesting density can reach 2.5 pairs per 1000 ha. In 1990-1991 the population density of the gray owl in the taiga forests of the Kandalaksha and Umbsky districts did not exceed 2.02 individuals per 1,000 km2 (Volkov, 2000). In Karelia, density estimates are available only for the Kivach and Kostomukshsky reserves. According to the Red Book of Karelia (1995), in the first of them the density is 1-2 pairs per 100 km2, in the second it was somewhat higher: in the same area of 10 km2 in 1988-1993, depending lemmings, 1-3 pairs of birds nested. In the Komi Republic, the population density of the gray owl in primary biotopes in years with a high number of rodents reaches 0.3 individuals per 1 km2, more often - 0.05-0.1 individuals per 1 km2 (Mikkola et al., 1997). In different regions of the Perm region. the nesting density of this tawny owl ranges from 0.3 to 0.5 pairs per 1,000 km2, in general for the region - 0.3 pairs per 1,000 km2 (Shepel, 1992). The total approximate number is estimated by this author at 40 pairs. For the Nizhny Novgorod region S. and A. Bucky (1998) estimate the number of gray owl at about 10 pairs. 3-5 pairs can nest in the Moscow region (Volkov et al., 1998). The total estimated population of the Great Gray Owl in European Russia is 600-700 pairs (Volkov, 2000), and there is an upward trend in the abundance of the species. In Finland, the population is estimated at about 1000 pairs (Saurola, 1997), which is about 98% of the entire Western European population (Mikkola et al., 1997).
In Central Siberia and Yakutia, in habitable biotopes, this is one of the many owls. In the extreme south-east of the range, in Primorye, it breeds sporadically.
Everywhere the number of the gray owl is subject to noticeable fluctuations. They are usually associated with the frequency of reproduction of rodents - the main victims of this highly specialized myophage. However, global fluctuations are also known for this species. So, from the late 1960s to the late 1970s. there has been a steady increase in the population in Finland and Sweden (Mikkola and Sulkava, 1969; Mikkola, 1983). A similar picture took place in the North-West of Russia (Malchevsky, Pukinsky, 1983). In the latter region until the end of the 1960s. this bird was generally considered one of the rarest, and since 1976-79. became more or less normal. Currently, the number of birds in these places has stabilized. The reasons for such population fluctuations are not clear.
reproduction
Daily activity, behavior
Of all the owls, the bearded owl is the most diurnal. In both summer and winter, it can be found hunting even during the midday hours. However, diurnal activity is most characteristic of this bird during the winter months. Since February, when the day increases, its activity shifts to the morning and evening hours. In April-May, when "white nights" come in the northern latitudes, it is not often possible to see this owl during the day. From that time until autumn, it is active primarily in the twilight hours.
The time of activity of birds is distributed somewhat differently in southern latitudes, for example, at 46 ° N. in the Ussuri region. Here the day is characterized by comparative constancy, and twilight is transient. Under these conditions, the Great Owl, having started hunting in the predawn twilight, continues it after sunrise. Then, after a 4-5-hour rest at noon, hunting resumes long before sunset and practically stops in complete darkness.
The developed daily routine of the Great Gray Owl extends not only to hunting, but also to mating behavior. The same routine is followed by the chicks in the nest, which are usually awake during the daytime, while sleeping during the midnight hours. Almost the same can be said about the activity of the incubating bird, which leaves the clutch only at dusk and during the day, spending the dark time in “sleep”.
Tawny Owls tend to live in pairs, the latter possibly being permanent and persisting from year to year. This also has the sex ratio in the population, which, apparently, is close to 1:1. The increased mortality during the nesting period of smaller males does not contradict stable monogamy, since it is compensated by the relatively frequent deaths of adult females, which lose all caution during the breeding season. However, in recent years in Fennoscandinavia, where the number of Great Gray Owls has now increased dramatically, cases of bigamy in this species are reported when two females rush to one nest at once, or the nests of the latter are located nearby, and they have a common male (Mikkola, 1983).
Despite their large size, narrow specialization, and seemingly unconditional food competition, individuals of the species in Eurasia are very tolerant of each other. In the Ussuri taiga, we were aware of residential nests located about 200 m from one another. In Sweden, a case of nesting of two pairs 100 m from one another is described (Hoglund, Lansgren, 1968). Naturally, in such a situation, couples inevitably contact, however, no one noted any noticeable conflicts. Moreover, in years with abundant food, in some areas one can observe something like a colonial settlement of these owls. Birds from the American continent have personal hunting grounds from which they expel other individuals of their species (Godfrey, 1967).
Owls of the Old World are distinguished by increased tolerance in their hunting areas and in relation to potential food competitors - other species of owls and birds of prey. So, in the immediate vicinity of nests, within a radius of up to 300 m, the Great-tailed Owl, Short-eared Owl, Short-legged Owl, etc. can successfully breed. goshawk, marsh and piebald harriers, hobby and kestrel. In 1974 in Finland this owl nested next to a peregrine falcon (Mikkola, 1983); a peregrine falcon attack on a gray owl was noted, after which it began to fly around its nest.
Other birds, including passerines and small birds of prey, having found this owl during the day, although they “shout” it, they do not raise such a commotion as when they meet, for example, gray or long-tailed owls.
Nutrition
The food of the gray owl is mainly rodents. In the north of Europe, these can be voles and lemmings, in Yakutia and the Far East - mainly voles and other rodents. Relatively often, shrews become prey. Less often, this owl manages to catch a chipmunk or a squirrel, very rarely - birds. The average prey weight is 25.5 g.
A comparison of the diet of three species of owls in Belarus (Tishechkin, 1997) showed that the gray owl is the most highly specialized in the choice of food objects. It has the narrowest food niche: if the Tawny Owl has 51 types of prey in the diet, the Tawny Owl - 29, then the Bearded Owl - only 13. At the same time, the niche width of the Tawny Owl (n = 1517) is long-tailed (n = 613) - 5.48, bearded (n = 454) - 4.55. Comparison of diets showed that the Ural Owl and Great Gray Owl have a similar range of food objects (0.667), while the overlap between the Gray Owl and Great Gray Owl is significantly less - 0.448.
The main hunting style of the Great Gray Owl is to watch for prey from a perch. At the same time, the detection of prey in almost all cases occurs by ear, and not by sight, although the illumination available at the time of the hunt seems to be conducive to the latter. In this regard, a series of photographs of Ero Kamil presented by Heimo Mikkola in the monograph The Great Owl (Mikkola, 1981) is of great cognitive interest. In these photographs, which captured the hunt sequentially, it is clearly seen how the owl, breaking off the perch and orienting the facial disk to a certain point, smoothly glides over the snow-covered glade. In the intended place, the bird slows down and, pointing the facial disk down, apparently, specifies the location of the animal; then, half-folding its wings, it falls to the ground and, breaking through a layer of snow, plunging into it almost completely, seizes an invisible victim. When throwing, the fingers are widely spaced, and at the last moment both paws are placed in front of the bird's head crashing into the snow. Immediately, making a deep swing, scattering snow dust around, the owl takes off with prey or - if the hunt was unsuccessful - without it.
Often, from one perch within a radius of 20-25 m, the gray owl manages to get 4-6 animals. If the place is chosen unsuccessfully, then, after staying here for 10–20 minutes, the bird moves in a leisurely flight to a new place, where it starts to listen actively, turning its head from side to side. Being on a perch, carried away by hunting, the Great Gray Owl, even in an open landscape, often allows a person to approach at a distance of 20–30 m, i.e. for a sure shot from a shotgun.
With a low density of rodents, hunting from a perch usually alternates with a search flight. At the same time, the owl slowly flies around the hunting grounds (clearings, moss swamps, burnt areas) at a height of 2.5-5 m. shrew for 100 m, turned in her direction and caught. More often, the search flight is interrupted by a sudden fall on the victim from above. Moreover, as in the case of hunting from a perch, the victim does not have to be on the surface. Such hunting, where hearing is the leading analyzer, is productive only in calm, absolutely calm weather. But under the most favorable circumstances, out of 10 attempts to grab a victim, almost half are unsuccessful.
Like other owls, the Great Owl often hunts in the immediate vicinity of the nest, and only the lack of food here makes it fly farther. According to observations of males marked with radio transmitters, birds periodically hunted at a distance of up to 6.5 km from the nest. The daily feed requirement of an adult bird is 150-160 g (Craighead, 1956; Mikkola, 1970b; Mikkola and Sulkava, 1970). According to the same authors, who studied more than 5,000 pellets (their sizes range from 60 to 100 mm in length and from 20 to 40 mm in width) collected from nests and perches in Fennoscandia, the diet of the gray owl consists of voles by 90% ( genera Microtus and Clethrionomys). An insignificant place in their diet is occupied by 6 species of shrews (4.3%), birds (mainly finches fledglings) make up about 1%, frogs - 0.5%, invertebrates - 0.06%. The ratio of different groups of objects may vary depending on the occurrence of preferred prey in nature. Very rarely, especially in famine years, young hare (2 cases) may be the prey of the gray owl. In the stomachs of birds caught in Yakutia, in addition to numerous red-backed voles, pikas (Ochotona hyperborea), forest lemmings, root voles, narrow-skulled voles (Microtus gregalis), water voles, and shrews were found (Vorobiev, 1963). In the Ussuri taiga, the largest prey of this bird was occasionally caught by it squirrels and chipmunks. Many hunters, and sometimes zoologists, assure that in winter this bird preys almost everywhere on white partridges. If this happens, it is extremely rare. Most likely, in this case, the Great Gray Owl is confused with some other owl, for example, an eagle owl or an owl, or there is carrion feeding, which this owl resorts to in times of famine.
Tawny owls feed their chicks with the same food that they eat themselves.
Enemies, adverse factors
The Great Gray Owl, apparently, does not have specialized enemies in nature. Cases of prey of this owl by an eagle owl have been noted (Mikkola, 1983). All in. In America, out of 43 individuals tagged with radio transmitters (Duncan, 1987), 13 were killed: 5 adults and 8 juveniles. Owls have also been killed by Lynx canadensis (2) and Martes pennanti (3).
The disappearance of this bird from densely populated areas of Europe is the result of many years of direct destruction of adults and their nests by humans. This was facilitated by the unusual innate credulity of this large bird. It can also be pointed out that in Siberia and the Far East, local residents highly value its meat and hunt it (Vorobiev, 1954). Large-scale clear cuts also have a negative value for the species.
Economic importance, protection
If we see any benefit in feeding owls with rodents, then of all our tawny owls, the bearded one is the most “useful”. For six summer months, as evidenced by observations in Finland (Mikkola, 1970), one pair destroys about 700 small rodents. However, the Great Gray Owl, like other owls, cannot be called "useful" or "harmful". These birds play an important role in natural ecosystems. The value of the gray owl is also important in aesthetic terms - it is one of the most beautiful, large and, at the same time, trusting owls of the northern taiga.
To preserve the species, it is necessary to promote its protection and strictly observe the ban on shooting. A positive result can give a device from the branches of artificial nests in the edge zone, near swamps and clearings. The Great Gray Owl occupies such platforms quite willingly.
The Great Gray Owl is listed in the Red Books of Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, and in Russia - in the Red Books of Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Tver, Arkhangelsk, Leningrad, Murmansk, Kirov, Perm, Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Magadan, Sakhalin Region, Karelia , Republic of Komi, Mari El, Tatarstan, Udmurtia, Republic of Altai, Buryatia, Koryak and Chukotka autonomous regions. A proposal has been made on the expediency of entering the population of the gray owl of European Russia into the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation (Volkov, 1998).
Order - Owls (Strigiformes)
Family - Owls (Strigidae)
Genus - Owl (Strix)
Great Gray Owl (Strix nebulosa)
The Great Gray Owl is a protected species (CITES Convention). It is protected by local and regional legislation of those countries in which the species lives. In Russia, this owl is listed in the Red Books of many regions and republics.
Appearance:
The plumage of adult and young birds is generally light brown, smoky gray, with numerous mottling. The back is gray or buffy and has a longitudinal brown spotting. Vertex and nape with buffy tint and dark brown longitudinal and transverse pattern. The same pattern is noticeable on the shoulder and wing coverts, where, in addition to it, the light outer webs of feathers sometimes form clear transverse bands. Breast, belly and sides are light gray, with rare irregular brown spotting, sometimes forming discontinuous longitudinal rows. The flight feathers are dark brown, with light transverse stripes, especially developed on the inner webs. The facial disc is whitish, with sharp dark brown concentric circles. The inner and partially lower edges of the facial disc are framed by almost white feathers, which create a pattern in the form of two crescents touching backs. The throat is black-brown, in the form of a wedge ("beard"). The iris of the eyes in sexually mature individuals is bright lemon-yellow, less often orange-yellow. The beak is light, yellowish. Nails are blackish.
Newly hatched chicks are almost completely covered with thick, light, almost white fluff. The skin on the body is pinkish-brown, on the paws it is pale yellowish, the claws are dark steel, the beak is brown-gray, pinkish at the base, the iris is brown-violet.
Weight of an adult bird: 660-1900 g, body length reaches 80 cm, wingspan - 1.5 m. Females are much larger than males.
Area:
Taiga inhabitant and inhabitant of mountain forests. It can be found all over from the Kola Peninsula to the mountainous terrain of Primorye. The northern border of habitat is marked by tall forests and continues south to the Baltic countries, Germany, the center of the European part of Russia. The taiga climate of Siberia, the forests of Transbaikalia, the harsh conditions of Sakhalin are also to the liking of this owl. However, she can settle further south, for example, in Mongolia. And in winter, sometimes it flies into the Middle lane. Another continent where this owl can be found is North America.
If the Great Gray Owl chooses taiga plantings, then it is always with high humidity - swampy, as well as alternating with open places - burned areas and wastelands.
Nutrition:
The food of the gray owl is standard for most owls - small rodents. But sometimes an owl comes across squirrels or small birds, and sometimes a larger beast, for example, a chipmunk, sable, rabbit, weasel or hare, becomes its victims. Amphibians, snakes, and sometimes fish do not avoid the claws of a feathered predator.
It hunts early in the morning or in the evening, but it can also hunt at night and even during the day, especially in winter. Most often, it hunts from ambush, sitting on a tree and carefully observing, and most importantly, listening to what is happening in the nearest clearing, swamp or clearing. For hunting the Great Gray Owl, it is necessary to have open, forest-free areas. The main "weapon" when hunting is excellent hearing and claws. An owl by hearing determines the presence of a prey, even if it is not on the surface, but at a depth of up to 30 cm under snow or underground. Then she flies off the branch and grabs her prey with lightning speed with her claws.
Reproduction:
Pairs of gray owls are permanent and form for life.
The mating games of the Great Gray Owl begin in the spring and are marked by loud peculiar trills of males. Courtship is expressed in mutual feeding and cleaning of plumage, however, more often, the male brings food and treats the female. Then the male chooses a territory and notifies the female about it. She examines several sites before settling on the most suitable one. Usually they use other people's nests - buzzards, goshawks or ravens, located high in the trees. Unlike other owls, tawny owls renovate and improve an old alien nest. They use pine needles, reindeer hair, moss and pieces of bark as fresh bedding.
Clutch contains 2 to 4 white eggs. The female incubates, sits very firmly on the eggs, and her wings and tail are raised high, so that the bird resembles a hatching chicken. Incubation begins with the first egg and lasts 28-30 days.
The male hunts most of the time and feeds only the female at first, and then the chicks. Hatched chicks are dressed in white down and, unlike other owls, develop rather slowly. At first, the female breaks the brought prey and feeds the chicks, and then they learn to do it themselves, and then the female also begins to hunt. Adult tawny owls at the nest are very aggressive, boldly attack and claw, trying to hit on the head, even a person and a bear.
The chicks leave the nest at the age of 3-4 weeks and begin to learn to fly. They fully fledge after 8 weeks, but remain at the nest for several more months. Parents continue to feed and protect them.
Our pets:
It is very difficult to distinguish between a male and a female in the Great Gray Owl, so our parents' names are uncomplicated Laura and Lorik. These two owls looked at each other for a very long time before starting a family. And we did not observe the notorious trills, because. this couple is very shy. But they are very attentive and loving parents. Laura and Lorik have already raised more than one brood and our bearded owls adorn more than one zoo.
Interesting fact:
The Great Gray Owl is able to regulate its own body temperature by spreading or, conversely, contracting its dense plumage.
There are cases of cannibalism among the chicks of the Great Owl. Chicks that are older and stronger are able to eat their younger and weaker brothers from lack of food.
The Great Gray Owl is a large, large-headed gray owl with numerous dark and light streaks. Of all the forest owls, it is inferior in size only to the eagle owl. From the Ural Owl, in addition to the difference in size, it differs in relatively small yellow eyes, clear concentric circles on the facial disc, and the presence of a thick black spot (“beard”) under the beak. In general, it is somewhat larger, more heady and darker than the Ural Owl. The female is larger (more dense) than the male, the same color. Juveniles in the second downy plumage are generally darker and browner than adults, with dark spots on the facial disc, yellow eyes. Elements of this attire are preserved until autumn, in the latest chicks - until November. In the first adult outfit, they look like adults. Contact signs for determining young in the first winter: tail feathers are narrow (45-55, rarely - 60 mm, in adults - 55-70) and with pointed tops (in adults - rounded), at the tops - with a narrow white edging, which to in the spring it can be completely worn out, especially on the central helmsmen (in adults, the tops of the helmsmen are gray). In the first years, the flight feathers are worn approximately the same, in the spring their gradual change begins, and from that time on they are different in terms of wear. Weight of males 600-1100, females - 700-1900 g, length 63-70, wing of males 43.0-46.6, females - 44.1-46.7, wingspan 130-158 cm.
Voice.
The current cries of the male are similar in nature to the cries of the Ural Owl, these are deaf, low, humming sounds, but the structure of the song is different. It consists of about a dozen monosyllabic cries: "gu-gu-gu…", which at the beginning of the song are pronounced with an interval of about 0.5-1 second, then gradually subside and become more frequent, can almost merge at the end. At the height of the talk, the intervals between songs can be only 5-10 seconds. The cry of the female can be heard less often, this is also a low sound, but more drawn out: "goo". When disturbed at the nest, muffled cries are uttered "huf", "heev", hiss, click their beak, emit a mournful undulating "uyyyyyyyyyy". Hungry fledglings hoarsely shout: "psyit" or "zip". At roll call, the young shout sharply "wooweek".
Spreading.
Forests of northern and temperate latitudes of Eurasia and America. In the Ural-West Siberian region - from the northern forest-steppe to the northern taiga. In general, they are quite rare, especially to the west of the Urals. In the Trans-Urals and Western Siberia, they are more common and in some places relatively common. Sometimes they fly into the tundra and forest-steppe. They live in the nesting area all year round.
Lifestyle.
The most favorite habitats of the gray owl are the old taiga with swamps, meadows, burnt areas, clearings. Nesting density and the very fact of nesting strongly depend on the number of rodents. The mating calls of the male in the south of the range are heard already in March, in the north - in April, i.e., in fact, even in winter. They sing at dusk, at night, and often during the day.
For nesting, they use relatively open and firmly built nests of buzzards, goshawks and other birds of prey, nest on high "fragments" of old trees, if a depression is expressed. The clutch contains 3-7 white eggs, usually 4-5, their dimensions are 48-60 x 39-47 mm. The female incubates from the first egg and almost continuously. One egg is incubated for about 28 days. The male is not far from the nest, flying away only for prey. After hatching in white down, chicks are grayish above, the second downy outfit is gray-brown, with an indistinct transverse pattern, a dark, almost black "mask" is characteristic. The female does not fly far from the nest even for food, and with small chicks she is inseparable. Adults are very aggressive towards nest predators, attacking and clawing on the head and back of everyone, including bear and human. The chicks leave the nest at the age of about 4 weeks, climbing and flying over neighboring trees.
Despite their large size, the Great Owl catches almost exclusively small rodents; in times of famine, they also catch other animals, birds up to the size of a hazel grouse, and frogs. They hunt from a perch or in a search flight. They are active mainly at dusk and at night, but sometimes during the day. With an abundance and availability of prey, they live settled, and when there is no food, they wander, flying into cities and outside the nesting range.
The Great Gray Owl, as a rare species, is included in the Red Book of the Sverdlovsk Region and the Saldinsky Territory.
When describing the species of birds of the Salda region, the book "Birds of the Urals, the Urals and Western Siberia" is taken as a basis. Reference guide. Author V.K. Ryabitsev - Yekaterinburg. Ural University Press 2001