Typical owls | Strigidae

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The facial disc is round and the eyes are large, with an iris ranging from yellow to almost black; several species carry two erectile feather tufts on the head, which have nothing to do with hearing but do break up the head's outline. The inner toe is shorter than the middle toe and the middle claw is smooth. Within this one family size in southern Africa runs from a scops owl of sixty grams to an eagle-owl of more than three kilos, the toes here being generally bare or merely bristled. The fishing owl departs from nearly every one of these points: legs and toes are bare, the soles are set with sharp spicules that hold a slippery fish, and the sound-deadening comb on the outer primary is absent, since a fish under water will not hear the approach in any case. The voice consists of low, far-carrying notes, rattles or clear whistled series that hold the territory outside the breeding season as well, and is usually the first thing by which the species is known. Nesting is in a tree hole, an old crow or raptor nest, on a cliff ledge or simply on the ground; the female incubates and broods, the male brings in all the food.