Scientific name: Athene noctua (Scopoli, 1769)
Bird group: Owls
Field characters. 22 cm. Small brown-grey owl with flat head. Upperparts brown-grey with white spots, underparts whitish grey with long broad brown-grey streaks. Face grey–white with fine dark streaks, appears to be 'frowning' because of low white eyebrows. Eyes bright yellow. Often seen during daytime, sitting on ruins, stones in open country, electricity poles, etc. Frequently bobs its body. Flight low and undulating with folded wings in glide.
Voice. Song reminds one of Common Redshank-call, a rising 'whuui'. Also agressive 'whieuw'.
Distribution. Resident. Common, but sometimes local.
Habitat. Usually found in agricultural areas, with scattered trees and hedges; also in orchards, open woodland, dunes, and semi–desert. Nests in hollow trees, in ruins, in holes in the ground, etc.
Food. Voles, mice, small birds, insects, worms.