Ural owl
Ural owls do not generally occur with other "Strix" owls excepting the tawny owl but overlap in much of their range also with the great grey owl, which furthermore ranges farther north and into the Americas as well. Despite its large size, the great grey owl is a dietary specialist on voles, relying almost exclusively on them. Its dietary restrictions are indicated by its foot morphology, with the great grey owl possessing talons that are conspicuously finer, smaller and less powerful looking than those of the Ural owl despite the slightly larger overall foot size (in correspondence with its body mass) of the great grey. Within the taiga that both the great grey and Ural owls prefer, great grey owls have been shown to nest in a wide diversity of locations, with more nest types overall than the Ural, but it does not normally use tree cavities as do the other two European "Strix" owls and seldom occurs in areas where conifers are not dominant anywhere in its range, such as riparian zones where forest can diversify to become mixed with deciduous trees. The difference in nest site usage and narrower dietary habits of the great grey are thought to mitigate most serious competition between the great grey and Ural owls. A larger owl than either species, however, is the Eurasian eagle-owl. The Ural owl is considerably smaller-bodied (around three times lighter), with a wingspan around 35% smaller and smaller talons and feet, so a competitive advantage is apparent even between the species’ morphology. The eagle-owl also takes a large number of small prey such as voles but is conspicuously more variable in alternate foods. Across a similar but generally much broader distribution (both in latitude and longitude), eagle-owls take about three times as many prey species as do Ural owls, including much more species from all prey taxon, and also occur in a broader range of habitat types. Being much larger and (based on morphology) presumably much more powerful, the eagle-owl is able to take much larger prey than the Ural owl. More locally, in Finland, the Ural owl took proportionately more European water voles, overall birds and amphibians than did the eagle-owls but took far fewer gamebirds. The eagle-owls are likely avoided when possible by the Ural. Upon evidence, Ural owls are fairly regular in occurrence in North Ostrobothnia, where eagle-owls are rare to absent, but in South Ostrobothnia the Urals are scarce, possibly because the eagle-owls are relatively common. However, habitat differences may segregate the two species as well. In Finland, the eagle-owl appears to prefer pine-dominated forest while the Ural prefers spruce-dominated forests. Elsewhere, eagle-owls may frequent rocky areas where available (for nesting) and often hunt in more diverse and often more open areas, and in such areas Ural owls are rare to absent. Being smaller than the great grey owl and Eurasian eagle-owl, it is projected that the Ural owl can live off of less food overall than them. It is estimated that over a 6 month period, an Ural owl needs about of food while a great grey owl needs about and an eagle-owl needs about . The Ural owl has the potential to encounter other larger owls such as the snowy owl ("Bubo scandiacus") in winter and the Blakiston's fish owl ("Bubo blakistoni") in the far east of the range, but are unlikely to interact extensively given the differences in habitat usage.