“The arrival of a new eagle-owl in the vicinity causes panic amongst other birds of prey and a general re-arrangement of territories usually follows as its new neighbours try to give it a wide berth,” says the Owls Trust.
Their size (wingspan of between 1.4 metres and 1.9m) and aggressive nature can make them the dominant bird of prey (both nocturnal and diurnal), although occasionally they are killed by large eagles, says the Trust.
The pumpkin orange eyes and feathery ear tufts make them one of the most striking owls in the world, notes The Peregrine Fund.
In Spain they prey mainly on rabbits but have been known to deer and foxes which they kill by crushing skulls with their large feet.
Eagle-owls also take chicks from the nests of other birds, ‘obtaining food and eliminating potential competitors’, says SEO/BirdLife.
They are the largest night-time raptors in European skies, able to live off many different types of land, although they prefer broken countryside with rocky areas and ravines.
The Eurasian eagle-owl inhabits most areas of Spain, apart from the north west of the country and the Pyrenees. The bird also avoids areas of intensive farming.
The largest populations are found in Extremadura, Andalucía and central and eastern Spain.
An important zone for the birds is the Sierra Escalona, a hilly area in Orihuela and Pliar de la Horadada (south Alicante province), although conservationists are still waiting for it to be turned into a natural park nearly 20 years after the procedure was first started by the Valencia regional government.
SEO/BirdLife explains that ‘although there are no reliable figures for the population in Spain, there are believed to be at least 3,000 nesting pairs in the country.
“The population tendency is positive, with a moderate general increase,” they note.
They are resident birds in the areas that they populate, and not migratory.
Young eagle-owls ‘leave their paternal territory’ but do not venture too far away; ‘rarely more than 100km from where they were born’.
SEO/BirdLife notes that the eagle-owl was persecuted by hunters due to ‘supposed attacks carried out on game’.
Shootings of the bird and thefts of eggs from its nests have decreased but the eagle-owl is still threatened by electrocutions and changes to rural land, notes SEO/BirdLife.
The principal problem it faces is illness in rabbits such as myxomatosis which can decimate the populations of its main source of food.
As with many other predators, including some raptors and the Iberian lynx, a healthy population of rabbits is essential for their survival.
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