IDENTIFICATION

VOCALISATIONS

The song is a deep, muffled ‘uh-hoo’.

DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT PREFERENCE

Widely but sparsely distributed in the New Territories and on Lantau up to at least 550m, with occasional records from Kowloon, HK Island and Po Toi. Open habitats are preferred, especially poorly-vegetated, boulder-strewn hillsides, whether in remote upland areas or in the lowlands on the edge of marshes, fishponds and farmland, and occasionally also airfields, landfills and golf courses. Favoured sites include the Mong Tseng peninsula, Wo Shang Wai, hills at the boundary with Guangdong, the hills above Discovery Bay and Mui Wo.

OCCURRENCE

Adults have been recorded in all months of the year, usually singles, occasionally a pair. Vocalising birds have been noted in all months, but most reports are of birds detected visually. The months February-April (37.5%) and September-November (30%) account for most records, and a trough is apparent in December (3% of the total) (Figure 1).

Not included in the above analysis are records of a further 31 individuals taken into care since 2003 that were found injured or in weak condition at widespread locations in the New Territories, Kowloon, HK Island, Lantau and Lamma. These lend support to the notion that the species is under-recorded in the wild.

Records at most sites are on isolated dates, with multiple reports in successive years only at Chau Tau, Wo Shang Wai, Discovery Bay hills, Mui Wo, and Yi O. An approximately four-fold increase in the number of records since 2001 is thought to result from greater observer activity, especially on Lantau, rather than indicating a genuine increase. Indeed, vegetation succession from grassland to shrubland is likely to be adversely affecting this species, though the relatively small number of records makes this difficult to quantify.

The first records of Eurasian Eagle-Owl were an adult seen in the early 1900s (Jones 1908, Vaughan & Jones 1913), a pair in a rocky gorge in the Castle Peak area on 9 and 20 June 1934 (Herklots 1934), and one at Tam Mei in summer 1957 (Macfarlane and Macdonald 1960). Subsequently, based on records of one or very occasionally two individuals at 12 sites in the years 1982-1998, it was regarded it as a scarce but widespread resident (Carey et al. 2001), as now.

BEHAVIOUR, FORAGING & DIET

Nocturnal and secretive. Most observations are of adults silhouetted at dusk on a rock, tree-stump or post, or occasionally perched in the daytime on a cliff or in a tree. As noted above, adults may be aggressive at a nest-site. There are no direct observations of birds hunting or catching prey, but pellets collected at the suspected breeding site on Lamma in 1982 contained skull fragments of Rattus norvegicus (90%), R. rattus flavipectus and Bandicota indica (Chandrasekar-Rao 1994).

BREEDING

There are confirmed records of up to three chicks at a nest-site in the period 12-29 March, with probable hatching dates in the last 10 days of February. Chicks have also possibly been under parental care in mid-February. Fledged juveniles have been reported in the nest-site vicinity up to 15 July, indicating a long post-fledging dependence period. Records are as follows.

Sok Kwu Wan, Lamma. An adult hopped across rocks on 13 February 1982 and struck one of two observers on the shoulder as they retreated. According to Mikkola (1983), some Eurasian Eagle Owls may attack humans who approach a nest-site too closely, especially if the young are close to fledging.

Shek Kong Valley. Three juveniles were photographed and ringed at a nest against a large boulder in fire-maintained grassland at c. 100m asl on the northern side of the valley on 12 March 2002. Based on the text and photographs in Penteriani et al. (2005), the young birds were probably about 20-25 days old.

Sunset Peak, Lantau. Up to three nestlings were photographed in an area of large boulders with dense low shrubland at 450m asl on 22 and 29 March 2015 (Tang & Chow 2017). Subsequently the young birds were noted moving around the rocks on 13 and 29 April, and two are known to have successfully fledged and were seen in flight near the nest area on 12 and 15 July.

Sunny Bay, Lantau. Two young birds  were on a rocky hilltop with two adults on 22 March, 10 April, 30 April and 28 June 2020. Reference to Penteriani et al. (2005) suggests that they were about 20-25 days old on the first date.

RANGE & SYSTEMATICS

Widespread and mainly resident from north Europe and north Africa east across north Asia to northeast Siberia, Korea and China (Konig & Weick 2008). Polytypic with sixteen subspecies recognised including, in the east of the range, B. b. kiautschensis from Korea south through east China to Guangdong.

CONSERVATION STATUS

IUCN: Least Concern. Population trend decreasing.