Bubo bubo

     The eurasian eagle owl (Bubo bubo) is a 66 to 71 cm long bird of prey with showy plumes, large golden-yellow eyes, and reddish fawn plumage mottled with dark burel.

     It is the largest and most powerful of the Iberian nocturnal raptors.

     In the image we find it in its watchtower, surrounded by the characteristic shrubs of the Mediterranean forest where it lives: pine, kermes oak, gorse, rockrose and mountain hay.

This image won first prize in the 2005 Pallarés Heritage photography contest held every year by the Regional Council of El Pallars Jussà and the Regional Museum of Natural History of Tremp (Lleida), and was on the cover of Wild Nature magazine in January 2006.

Playing his song: