Typical Owls (Strigidae)

Eurasian Eagle-owl (Bubo bubo) - HBW 5, p. 186

French: Grand-duc d’Europe German: Uhu Spanish: Búho Real
Other common names: Common/Great/Northern Eagle-owl

Taxonomy: Strix Bubo Linnaeus, 1758, Sweden.
Forms superspecies with B. bengalensis and B. ascalaphus, with B. virginianus (including recently separated B. magellanicus) and B. capensis sometimes considered part of same group. Sometimes considered to include first two as races; appears to intergrade with B. ascalaphus in parts of Middle East, suggesting that conspecificity perhaps not impossible. Geographical boundaries of races obscured throughout by intergrading populations. Large number of additional races named, some representing no more than individual variation or intermediates: e.g. populations described from Bashkirskaya (baschkiricus) included in sibiricus; from L Zaysan region (zaissanensis) in yenisseensis; from NW Xinjiang (tarimensis) in turcomanus; from C Tibet and NW China (tibetanus) in hemachalana; from N Mongolia (dauricus) and Sakhalin (borissowi) in ussuriensis; from SE Yunnan (jarlandi), Sichuan (setschuanus), Manchuria and N China (inexpectatus) in kiautschensis; and from S Kurils, Hokkaido and Korea (tenuipes) split between ussuriensis and kiautschensis. Fourteen subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

hispanus Rothschild & Hartert, 1910 - Iberian Peninsula; formerly also Atlas Mts in NW Africa (probably extinct).
bubo (Linnaeus, 1758) - Europe from N Spain and Scandinavia E to W Russia (E to about Gor’kiy).
ruthenus Buturlin & Zhitkov, 1906 - C European Russia E to foothills of Ural Mts, S to lower Volga basin.

See all 14 subspecies

hispanus Rothschild & Hartert, 1910 - Iberian Peninsula; formerly also Atlas Mts in NW Africa (probably extinct).
bubo (Linnaeus, 1758) - Europe from N Spain and Scandinavia E to W Russia (E to about Gor’kiy).
ruthenus Buturlin & Zhitkov, 1906 - C European Russia E to foothills of Ural Mts, S to lower Volga basin.
interpositus Rothschild & Hartert, 1910 - from Romania and S Ukraine E to Volga delta, S to Middle East (S to C Israel and Jordan) and NW Iran.
sibiricus (Gloger, 1833) - from W foothills of Urals E to R Ob, S to W Altai.
yenisseensis Buturlin, 1911 - C Siberia from R Ob to L Baikal, S to Altai and N Mongolia.
turcomanus (Eversmann, 1835) - steppes between lower R Volga and R Ural, E to Transbaikalia, and S to Kazakhstan, extreme NW China (Tarim Basin in NW Xinjiang) and W Mongolia.
omissus Dementiev, 1932 - Turkmeniya to W China (Chinese Turkestan).
hemachalana Hume, 1873 - from Pamirs and N Tien Shan S to Himalayas.
nikolskii Zarudny, 1905 - E Iraq and Iran, Afghanistan, and N & W Pakistan.
jakutensis Buturlin, 1908 - NE Siberia.
ussuriensis Poljakov, 1915 - SE Siberia to NE China, Sakhalin, N Hokkaido and S Kuril Is.
kiautschensis Reichenow, 1903 - from W & C China (S to Yunnan and Sichuan) E to Korea.
swinhoei Hartert, 1913 - SE China.