Magellanic Horned Owl (Bubo magellanicus)

Magellanic Horned Owl Bubo magellanicus

Chilean name: Tucúquere

Chile

The Magellanic Horned Owl is distributed from Peru to Tierra del Fuego mainly in Chile but also in adjacent western Argentina. It is found in a variety of habitats but requires open country for hunting and cliffs, trees or shrubs for roosting.

It used to be considered a sub-species of Great Horned Owl B. virginianus but on the basis of differences in vocalization, appearance and DNA it is now normally considered a separate species.

Compared to Great Horned Owl it is smaller with smaller "horns" and narrower barring on the underparts.

Although it hunts mainly at dusk and dawn, in the south of its range where daylight can extend to almost 24 hours in summer, it is often seen during the day. Photos 1 to 3 were taken at 13:00 hours in Tierra del Fuego.

Photo 4 was taken at 10:00 am in Putre at the northern end of Chile but this was the daytime roost of the bird (in a small planting of eucalyptus near the centre of the village.)

Magellanic Horned Owl, Putre, Chile, February 2007 - click for a larger image

Back to Index

If you do not see a menu on the left, you may have arrived at this page from another site. Please click Home to get to my main page.