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The long-eared owl is the most regularly taken as prey of any raptorial bird by Eurasian eagle-owls. Other than these two species, a large share of the raptorial prey for eagle-owls is made up of other owls. Given that all European owls are to some extent nocturnal, they may be encountered and killed upon detection by the Eurasian eagle-owl.
[8] [9] The long-eared owl is a somewhat specialized predator, focusing its diet almost entirely on small rodents, especially voles, which quite often compose most of their diet. [ 4 ] [ 8 ] Under some circumstances, such as population cycles of their regular prey, arid or insular regional habitats or urbanization , this species can adapt ...
Generally speaking, the long-eared owls in Europe are much more strongly disposed to being a specialist species than the tawny owl, relying almost entirely on voles. Although in the broad picture, the long-eared also feeds on other prey such as birds and insects, their food niche breadth is consistently lower than that of the tawny owls.
The genus Asio was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the long-eared owl (Asio otus) as the type species. [1] [2] The genus name is from asiō, the Latin name used by Pliny the Younger for a type of horned owl, [3] the feather tufts on the head of these owls give the appearance of "ears" which is a defining characteristic.
Pellets from a long-eared owl. The alimentary canal of a bird. Long-eared owl pellets and rodent bones obtained from dissected pellets (1 bar = 1 cm). A pellet, in ornithology, is the mass of undigested parts of a bird's food that some bird species occasionally regurgitate.
A long-eared owl (Asio otus) in an erect pose The laughing owl (Ninox albifacies), last seen in 1914. Genus Aegolius – the saw-whet owls, four species; Genus Asio – the eared owls, eight species; Genus Athene – two to four species (depending on whether the genera Speotyto and Heteroglaux are included or not)
The long-eared owl has a somewhat similar plumage to the eagle-owl, but is considerably smaller (an average female eagle-owl may be twice as long and 10 times heavier than an average long-eared owl). [25] Long-eared owls in Eurasia have vertical striping like that of the Eurasian eagle-owl, while long-eared owls in North America show a more ...
In North America and most of Europe, voles predominate in the diet, and shrews are the second most common food choice. [24] In Ireland, the accidental introduction of the bank vole in the 1950s led to a major shift in the barn owl's diet: where their ranges overlap, the vole is now by far the largest prey item. [32]