European hare
Three other lagomorphs extensively overlap in range with Eurasian eagle-owls in Europe, the mountain hare ("Lepus timidus") in the northern portions, the European hare ("Lepus europaeus") in the central and eastern portions and the Granada hare ("Lepus granatensis") in the western Mediterranean portions. These species are all larger on average than a rabbit, averaging in the Granada hare, roughly twice that in the European hare and the mountain hare being intermediate between the two. Hares are often considerably secondary in prey remains in most European biomes by number but often are a significant contributor of prey biomass for eagle-owls. For example, in Finland, the mountain hare made up only 5.3% of prey by number but made up 56.2% of the prey biomass as the hare specimens were all large, with an estimated mean mass of . On the contrary, the mountain hare was the numerous prey species in one study from the Swiss Alps, making up 28.3% of the prey by number. Another area near Europe where hares were numerically important was in southwestern Turkey, with the European hare being the second most common prey species by number. There it consisted of 18.1% of the quantity and presumably a huge portion of the biomass. In lower Austria, the European hare was also the second most abundant species in the diet but the estimated average weight of hares taken was rather low, at , indicating young hares of probably less than a month old are most often taken there. On the other hand, in Slovenia, Netherlands and Bavaria, the European hares taken were estimated to average , and , respectively. The European hare was also the second most common prey species in a study from the Czech Republic.