Cape+Eagle+Owl

Cape Eagle Owl By Jordan Springer

In appearance, the Cape Eagle Owl mainly features three colors: dark brown, yellow/ light brown, and white. Its front has rounded feathers of all three colors but is composed of mostly white, whereas its wings are mostly brown with white on the inside. The owl’s face has a ring from just above the yellow-orange eyes to just below the beak. The ring is black, and the inside is a grayish tan. Another distinguishing feature is the two horn-like ear-tufts. They stick up at an angle from close to the sides of the head and are primarily black and khaki and give the owl a permanent appearance of surprise or annoyance. The Cape Eagle Owl belongs to the family of Stridigae, or typical owls and the budo, or eagle-owl genus. It has three subspecies: the capensis, the mackinderi, and the dilloni. The capensis is the smallest of the two and the mackenderi is the largest. The mackenderi is also differentiated from the other two subspecies by its lighter, yellowish color and is sometimes thought of as a different species, Mackinder’s Eagle Owl. The dilloni has a darker color than the other two and less obvious markings. The capensis, lives in the very south part of Africa, the mackenderi the middle part of Africa, and the dilloni the north. All Cape Eagle Owls live in mountainous or rocky areas. The Cape Eagle Owl is often found in pairs of male and female, especially leading up to the breeding season, which occurs anually. Breeding involves a male advertising territory to a female, who remains silent while he performs a dance of courting for her. The egg-laying season varies depending on the location, but it is always in the summer. The eggs are laid in a nest, which usually is located in a hidden or hard-to-reach scrape in the ground or between rocks. After the female lays one to three eggs, she spends most of her time incubating them, while the male spends his hunting. Eggs take about thirty four to thirty eight days to hatch. When they do, the male continues hunting though the female feeds the food to the young. At about forty five days, the young begin to wander on their own, though they remain close to home, and at about seventy days, they can fly well. The young Cape Eagle Owls are cared for by their parents until they are about two or three months of age. As they are owls, Cape Eagle Owls are carnivorous, other animals being their primary food source. However, this particular owl has an amazing ability: it can lift and carry animals up to four times its own weight! This means that it can eat many things, ranging from rabbits to small antelope. The owl hunts by swooping down, grabbing the prey with its talons, and biting the animal’s neck. Its hunts usually occur in savannahs, but the owl will sometimes visit nearby human settlements to feed on pigeons. Speaking of humans, this is one species that they don’t greatly affect. They are of “least concern” to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) and are only influenced by humans when they are killed by vehicles or when pesticides kill the rodents they eat. It can also be affected by forest fires or overgrazing by cattle owned by humans.