The Eagle Owl. The Grand Duke, as he was called by the beloved and missed Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente. Brúfol Duc, in Valencian.

Magic takes over Puig Campana when the Eagle Owl flies over it. This is the bird that Manuel Mayor Rabasa, our expert on flora and fauna, has chosen to start 2025. Thanks to their generosity it is possible to learn more about the habitat of the second largest mountain in the province of Alicante.

Did you know???

I am a bird of prey with nocturnal habits, popularly known as "the ghost of the night", "the prince of darkness" or "the king of the night" and, although fame precedes me, I would say that it is not that bad!

I am the largest of the nocturnal birds of prey. Robust and stocky in appearance. My weight ranges between 2 kg and 3 kg, my height is 60 to 70 cm, and I have a wingspan of 160 to 185 cm. By the way, females are larger. They weigh about 4 kg.

I am big-headed, short-necked, with prominent ears, which are actually cephalic plumes that remain tilted when I am relaxed, erect when disturbed or when I am in the middle of the task of arresting. I can turn my head almost 270 degrees, which gives me amazing peripheral vision.

The beak is curved, short, powerful and black in color. The robust claws, adapted to catch and hold prey, with curved, very sharp, large and blackish nails as well.

The pale brown legs are large and powerful, feathered to the claws, and I have four toes on each of them.

My eyes are large, the iris is orange and the pupil is black.

I have "lynx eyesight", capturing light 100 times better than people, and "fine hearing", which allows me to hear sounds up to twenty times lower than those perceived by humans.

My wings are long, broad, and rounded.

In my plumage fawn tones such as reddish yellow, brown, brown, pale gray, brownish black and whitish predominate. The plumage is darker in the dorsal areas and lighter in the ventral areas. Whitish is the throat, chin, around the beak and around the eyes.

The tail is short and reddish-brown.

We change the complete moult every year, between July and December.

Our favourite environments are ravines, cliffs that are surrounded by trees and shrubs, rocks, cliffs...

We fed mainly on rabbits, but as their population was considerably reduced as a result of the diseases they are suffering, we have had to modify our eating habits. We eat hares, rats, mice, voles, squirrels, partridges, blackbirds, hedgehogs, lizards, young foxes, etc.

We place ourselves in perches such as branches and mounds, from where we can see our victims, going unnoticed as we blend in with the environment. We observe the prey and descend quickly with silent flapping wings over them, with a quick and accurate attack, annihilating them with our claws. We would say that the owl is wise because it knows how to listen before acting.

We tear the prey with its beak into small pieces if they are large. If, on the other hand, they are small, we swallow them whole without chewing them. Once the prey has been digested, we regurgitate through the mouth the less digestible parts, that is, the bones, hair, feathers, beak and barbs of hedgehogs. Our existence is detected by the presence of pellets, which are very large balls of organic debris.

We can capture birds in mid-flight.

Our main predators are eagles; vultures; the fox, which eats the eggs and chicks; the wild boar, if our nest is on the ground; and, above all of them, homo sapiens.

We are reserved, discreet, solitary, that is why it is said that "every little owl with its olive tree" We are sedentary, territorial and we defend and guard our territory from intruders. We do it with great effort, what is popularly known as "with blood, sweat and tears". We delimit the territory with our song and the marking of stones, with our excrement.

Our gaze is penetrating, enigmatic and challenging.

The flight is silent, powerful, undulating, agile and we alternate strong flapping wings with gentle glides.

We only admit company during courtship, because "it is better to be alone than in bad company".

We are sleepyheads. During the day we can sleep up to 17 hours. We do it in trees or in the cracks of rocky walls. The activity is frenetic from sunset until before dawn. We are rarely seen flying during the day. If this is the case, it is because humans bother us or a predator harasses us.

Our singing is deep and the great howl bu-hu-hu-hu can be heard at a great distance. As it could not be otherwise, there are many sayings of my singing. One of them is "when the owl sings in December, or it rains or temperates". When you hear me hooting at night, I'm sending a communication signal, and it's usually to warn other owls to stay away from my territory. I'm sure it will freeze the blood of night owls. My bu-hu-hu-hu chant is repeated every seven or eight seconds.

We are monogamous. We woo our partner with aerial displays, offering them food, and exchanging sounds with each other.

When we locate a good place to start breeding, we dig a small hole in the ground and emit sounds.

We nest in the month of February, in hollow trunks of trees such as carob trees and olive trees. We also do it in rocky areas, cliffs, caves, open ledges, and ultimately in places that are safe from inclement weather, such as rain, wind, and cold. We also take advantage of the nests of other large birds. We rarely nest on the ground.

The nest is rudimentary, we do not add branches, nor do we cover them with leaves.

My partner lays only one egg a year, two to five whitish eggs, usually in winter, in the month of February, because of "February February, the shortest and the meanest", or in March, at the beginning of spring, for which there is also a saying: "March Marzuelo, a bad day and a good day".

The female is in charge of incubating the eggs, while I get her food. It will only leave incubation to relieve itself and stretch its wings.

After five weeks the eggs hatch. The big day has arrived. The chicks are born with white down and, after 10 or 12 days, they change to brownish. They will be fed by both parents.

Attentive!!!

Chicks are not all born at the same time. If food is scarce, the little ones will die for lack of sustenance, since the older and stronger brothers will "take the cat to the water", or they will be devoured. This is a behavior called "Cainism"

At three weeks they are already able to feed themselves. At two months they begin to make their first flights and five months after birth they are completely covered in feathers.

At the end of autumn, once they have learned the hunting techniques and the dangers that lie in wait for them, they are expelled from the territory and the mother cruelly banished.

We reach sexual maturity at two years of age. A very large percentage will not reach the first year. Whatever we manage to overcome, we can live up to 20 years. In captivity we can reach 60 years of age.

We are forced to face a number of threats:

• the alarming reduction of our favorite prey: the rabbit, due to diseases that haunt them.
• Electrocution and collision with power lines.
• Abuses
• Collision with barbed wire.
• Climate change, with very prolonged droughts and consequent food shortages.
• Poaching.

In the 70s we were considered a vermin and our capture was rewarded, and our population was alarmingly reduced. We are currently protected and thanks to this measure we are in the process of recovery.