Long-eared Owls are medium-sized, slender owls with long ear tufts. The head, roughly as wide as it is long, looks squarish. The facial disks are long and narrow.
Relative Size
Smaller than a Great Horned Owl, larger than a Western Screech-Owl.
Long-eared Owls are fairly dark birds with buff or orange faces and intricate black, brown, and buff patterning on its feathers. The ear tufts are black with buff or orange fringes, the face has two vertical white lines between the eyes, and the eyes are yellow.
Long-eared Owls are nocturnal and generally spend days roosting in dense parts of trees, often near the trunk where their plumage provides excellent camouflage. The species is quite vocal, and makes an incredible variety of hoots, squeals, barks, and other noises. They hunt by making low, coursing passes over open ground, but they rarely hunt before true dark. In winter, the species often roosts communally.
Long-eared Owls require a combination of grassland or other open country for foraging, and dense tall shrubs or trees for nesting and roosting. Pine stands and windbreaks or shelterbelts are favored winter roost habitat.
Regional Differences
Western Long-eared Owls tend to have faces that are more orange than those of Eastern birds, but there is much variation in this feature.