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Bird · Bubo bengalensis
Indian eagle-owl
IUCN LC · Least concernProtected under Indian law · I
A big rock-country owl with prominent ear tufts and orange eyes, which roosts in cliff ledges and crevices by day and hunts rats and hares across the open ground after dark.
How to recognise it
Scan shaded ledges and crevices in the boulder faces in the afternoon, and listen at dusk for a deep two-note boo-boo carrying a long way across the rocks.
Protection
Schedule I, Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972
Where to see it
Hampi
Owls carry a heavy load of superstition in India, and this species in particular has suffered from it. Put plainly, it is a rodent hunter that lives among rocks.
Hemakuta Hill · Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary (in season) · Sanapur Lake