Great Horned Owl (Hoot Owl, Winged Tiger)

The Great Horned Owl is a powerful, heavily built apex predator of the night, easily recognized by its prominent ear tufts, large yellow eyes, and deep hooting call. Measuring 18 to 25 inches in length with a wingspan over four feet, it preys on everything from mice and rabbits to large birds and even mammals as heavy as skunks and porcupines.

Muted earth tones featuring alternating bars of grayish-brown, dark brown, and mottled white or buff, typical of the cryptic coloration used by owls for daytime camouflage against tree bark

Transition structure: pennaceous at the distal tip and outer margins, becoming very loose, fluffy, and plumulaceous at the base with extensive downy barbs and absent or reduced rigid barbicels, giving it a velvety and silent-flight texture

Extremely soft, velvety, and matte in texture with no gloss; lacks the rigid stiffness of a primary flight feather, designed explicitly to muffle sound during movement

Soft, velvety texture, fine mottled barring in brown, gray, and white, and a fluffy plumulaceous base designed for silent flight and camouflage

Extremely adaptable, inhabiting deciduous, coniferous, and mixed forests, deserts, swamps, tundra, agricultural areas, and urban parks or alleyways

Widespread throughout North America, Central America, and South America, occurring from the subarctic tree line down to Argentina

Acts as an apex nocturnal raptor regulating populations of rodents, rabbits, and mesopredators, maintaining the balance of local woodland and suburban food webs

Barred Owl (Strix varia) and Eastern Screech-Owl (Megascops asio), which share similar barred gray-brown patterns but differ significantly in size and feather structure

Great Horned Owls are among the earliest nesting birds in North America, often laying eggs as early as January in northern climates. They possess grip strength of up to 500 pounds per square inch in their talons, roughly matching the bite force of an adult human

Good condition with minor wear along the lower loose barbs; clean and unbroken rachis with no obvious fault bars or parasite damage

West Allis, Wi found in my alley