Great horned owl Facts for Kids
Bubo virginianus · BOO-boh vir-jin-ee-AY-nus
Its "horns" are just feathers, and it can turn its head far around.
- 🏃 speed: not yet checked
- ⚖️ 2.2 to 3.8 lb998 g to 1.7 kg1
- 📏 18 to 25 in46 to 63 cm2 long
- 🎂 13 to 15 years13 to 15 years1
- 🍽️ meat
- Doing fine (Least Concern)
The great horned owl has two tufts of feathers that look like horns. It hunts at night with big, round eyes. It says hoo-hoo in a deep voice.
The "horns" of a great horned owl are only tufts of feathers, not real horns. Its eyes cannot move in their sockets, so it turns its whole head to look around. Soft feathers on its wings help it fly almost without a sound.
Great horned owls live across much of the Americas, from forests and deserts to city parks, and they hunt mostly at night. They eat many kinds of animals, from mice and rabbits to birds and even skunks. An owl cannot roll its tube-shaped eyes, but its neck is so bendy that it can turn its head most of the way around. After a meal, it coughs up a neat pellet of the fur and bones it could not digest.
How big is a great horned owl?
Great horned owl in numbers
| Length | 18 to 25 in46 to 63 cm2bill tip to tail tip |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | no checked number yet |
| Weight | 2.2 to 3.8 lb998 g to 1.7 kg1 |
| Top speed | no checked number yet |
| How long it lives | 13 to 15 years13 to 15 years1in the wild |
| What it eats | mice, rabbits, birds and even skunks |
| Where it lives | forests, deserts and towns across North America and into South America |
| What kind | Birds |
| Is it in danger? | Doing fine (Least Concern)3 |
A number we couldn’t find on a page we trust says so, instead of guessing.
Wow!
- Its wings make almost no sound.
- It coughs up a pellet of fur and bones after a meal.
- It often nests in an old nest that a hawk or crow built.
Compare the great horned owl
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Peregrine falcon
Bald eagle
Little brown batThree questions
Books about the great horned owl, free at the library
Ask a grown-up to tap the button: it shows where to borrow a book about the great horned owl for free.
Where these numbers come from
- National Park Service, Golden Spike, checked 30 October 2026.
- National Park Service, Bryce Canyon, checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, from the IUCN Red List, checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, Great horned owl (Q81515), checked 30 October 2026.