Appearance
It is about 45 cm long with birds in the north of the range being largest. It has broad wings and a large head with two "ear" tufts. The plumage is mainly grey-brown but is quite variable in colour. The underparts are pale with narrow grey-brown bars and the breast has dark blotches. There is a black border to the facial disc and white stripes above the yellow eyes. The great horned owl is similar but larger with stronger feet and bill, broader bars on the underparts and longer ear-tufts.Distribution
The range extends from central Peru and western Bolivia southwards through Chile and western Argentina as far as Tierra del Fuego.Behavior
The deep hooting call consists of a double-note followed by a loud, vibrating note. The bird's local name "tucúquere" is imitative of the call.Habitat
The bird occurs in a variety of habitats including open forest, scrubland, farmland and grassland. It hunts over open country, mainly at night. Rodents make up most of the diet but other mammals, birds, reptiles and insects are also taken. The species nests on cliffs or between rocks. The two or three eggs are incubated by the female, who is fed by the male.References:
Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.
