Generally the male call with two hoots: "Hooo hooopoooo" and the female answers with three, with less stress on the middle note: "Hooo hoo hooo". THE six-week-old spotted eagle owl that was rescued. The young do not hoot till effectively adult, but from a very young age, they will hiss threateningly and snap their beaks castanet-like if alarmed. Spotted eagle-owls are medium-sized birds that have a distinctive appearance with prominent ‘ear tufts’ on the tops of their heads which all eagle owls have. Size: Length 40-45cm. A new born baby european eagle owl bowl in captivity in yorkshire uk ... Eagle Ray and Sunburst. Electric wires and shortage of suitable prey in populated areas are major threats to Spotted eagle-owls, particularly to fledglings. Spotted eagle-owls are monogamous and pairs mate for life. Spotted eagle-owlets will jump out of a nest that is off the ground at about five weeks of age and spend about ten days on the ground before they can fly. Spotted eagle-owls are the most common species of owl found in Southern Africa. When Spotted eagle-owl chicks hatch their eyes are grey in color and within two weeks gradually become yellow. The female lays two to four eggs and does the incubation, leaving the nest only to eat what the male has brought for food. The calls are generally typical, musical eagle-owl hoots. When Spotted eagle-owl chicks hatch their eyes are grey in color and within two weeks gradually become yellow. It often swallows its prey whole, with much head-jerking, pausing and resting in between, while a portion of the prey remains inside the mouth, until the prey can finally be swallowed down completely. Baby eagle-owl. The facial disk is off white to pale ochre and their eyes are yellow. Tail length 184-222mm. The male will hunt and bring food when the female cannot leave the nest. An adult pair is typically very aggressive in defense of its hunting territory. Wing length 290-360mm. Despite being one of the smaller eagle-owl species, the spotted eagle owl (Bubo africanus), nevertheless, possesses an impressive one metre wingspan. [4] Owlets make a rasping noise when they are hungry that can be heard by the parents over far distances to alert them to the owlets location. Habits: The Spotted Eagle Owl is mostly nocturnal, but sometimes active before sunset. In comparison, humans have only 7. Owlets start to leave the nest and wondering around when they are 4-6 weeks old and will able to fly at 7 weeks. Juveniles and newly fledged birds are particularly vulnerable. Learn how and when to remove this template message, "The disease that's killing off Joburg's bird population, and how you can stop the spread", Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds, Spotted Eagle-Owl videos, photos & sounds, Spotted Eagle-Owl webcam located in George, Garden Route, South Africa (Bubo africanus), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spotted_eagle-owl&oldid=983741296, Articles needing additional references from December 2019, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 16 October 2020, at 00:04. Sometimes, even in conditions verging on starvation, he will tear the head off a mouse, but bring the body for the female to feed to the young, or to eat herself if the eggs have not yet hatched. Eagle Owl chick. Photographed at the Owl Rescue Centre in the North West Province of South Africa, A juvenile spotted eagle-owl will develop its ear-tufts at about six months old. For prey too large to swallow whole, the owl will tear pieces of meat from the prey, and will also tear shreds to feed nestlings. An owl pair has a territory. Spotted eagle-owls are nocturnal hunters; they usually hunt by swooping down toward the prey and either catch it directly or pursue it on foot. A baby spotted Eagle Ray and sunburst on a tropical coral reef. Spotted eagle-owls enjoy bathing and during summer thunderstorms may be seen on tree limbs or on the ground with spread wings. The parents still support feed the young owls during this stage by bringing larger prey such as rodents for the owlets to feed on. Three small baby owls were carefully taken down from their owl box to be tagged with rings. There is a rare brown morph of the Spotted Eagle Owl that has a paler ground colour to the plumage described above. They also occur in Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Yemen. Sometimes, even in conditions verging on starvation, he will tear the head off a mouse, but bring the body for the female to feed to the young, or to eat herself if the eggs have not yet hatched. It has prominent ear tufts, and the upper body is dusky brown, the lower parts off-white with brown bars. In a comfortable social situation the youngsters have a soft croaking "kreeep" that they are prone to repeat at regular intervals of a few seconds. They have a healthy population in most parts of the country. It is illegal to capture or keep any indigenous owls in South Africa without the necessary rehabilitation permit issued by the Department of Nature Conservation. Their nesting site will be about 0.5–2.5 km away from the nesting site of any other owls, in suitable habitat. Baby captive born european eagle owl. Spotted eagle-owls communicate vocally. THE staff of Hoërskool Kempton Park, along with Wildlife in Crisis, saved a six-week-old spotted eagle owl from harms way on Monday. Spotted Eagle-Owl on The IUCN Red List site -, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_eagle-owl, https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/61741628/155475138.