A beautiful looking bird found mainly in dense vegetation and open woodland. They tend to be quite a solitary bird  although during the winter months are known to roost in groups. The female species stands at around 37cm in length with a wingspan of 100cm, whereas the males are 34cm in height and have a wingspan of 96cm. 

They have quite characteristic ear tufts which seem to sit on the top of their head. Their plumage is predominantly brown and buff with quite heavy mottling over most of their body. The males tend to be lighter in colour than the female birds and both birds have stunning golden/yellow eyes. Their legs and feet are heavily feathered and when the bird is relaxed on a fence post or in the branch of a tree they appear to puff out their legs to make them look bigger than they actually are.

They will quite hapily sit motionless on a tree branch all day resting, come night time they turn into ferocious hunters. They can fly and glide quite silently when hunting, prefering open clearings and fallow fields as opposed to the dense woodland were they tend to nest. In hunting mode they fly close to the ground, flying low about 1 to 2 meters above the ground, as soon as the owl spots its prey it pounces immediately, trapping the prey in its large powerful talons. Small prey is usually swallowed whole, wheras larger prey is carried back to its nest site or roost in its talons.

Captive Long Eared Owls are known to have a life expectency of over 10 years.