The long-eared owl (scientific name: Asio otus) has long ear feathers that are located on either side of the top of the head and are erect as straight as the ears. The dough plate is prominent, brownish yellow, wrinkled intact, white and embellished with a blackish brown. The upperparts are brownish yellow , while the dense is densely interspersed with thick black-brown feathers ; the chin is white , and the rest of the underparts are brownish white with thick black-brown feathers. The sub-ventral plumage is flanked by dendritic transverse branches. The tarsals and toes are densely covered with brownish-yellow feathers and the eyes are orange-red. Feeds on mice, birds, fish, frogs and insects. It has a positive effect on the control of rat infestation and should be vigorously protected. It belongs to China's national second-level protected animals. (Image from Oriental IC)
Widely distributed in Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia and other countries in the world. (Image from Oriental IC)
Except for a few areas such as Xining in Qinghai, Kashgar and Tianshan in Xinjiang, The Long-eared Owl in China is a migratory bird in most other areas, including summer migratory birds in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, eastern Inner Mongolia, northeast Hebei and other places, and from Hebei and Beijing to the south, until Tibet, Guangdong, and the southeast coastal provinces are winter migratory birds. (Image from Oriental IC)