page_title: List of birds of Virginia
section_title: Owls
hierarchical_section_title: List of birds of Virginia / Owls
caption_attribution_description: Great Horned Owl, stretching. Bernal Hill Park, San Francisco (California)
context_page_description: This list of birds of Virginia includes species credibly documented in the U.S. state of Virginia by the Virginia Avian Records Committee of the Virginia Society of Ornithology. As of October 2019 the list contained 474 species and three species pairs. Of them, 92 are considered accidental and 89 are considered rare. Seven species were introduced to North America, one is extinct, and one has been extirpated. Four additional species, now extinct, are believed to have occurred in Virginia, but there is insufficient evidence to include them in the main list. The published list includes identifiable subspecies which are not presented here.
  This list is presented in the taxonomic sequence of the Check-list of North and Middle American Birds, 7th edition through the 61st Supplement, published by the American Ornithological Society. Common and scientific names are also those of the Check-list, except that the common names of families are from the Clements taxonomy because the AOS list does not include them.
  Unless otherwise noted, all species listed below are considered to occur regularly in Virginia as permanent residents, summer or winter visitors, or migrants.
context_section_description: Order: Strigiformes   Family: Strigidae
  Typical owls are small to large solitary nocturnal birds of prey. They have large forward-facing eyes and ears, a hawk-like beak, and a conspicuous circle of feathers around each eye called a facial disk. Eight species have been recorded in Virginia.
  Eastern screech-owl, Megascops asio
  Great horned owl, Bubo virginianus
  Snowy owl, Bubo scandiacus (R)
  Burrowing owl, Athene cunicularia (A)
  Barred owl, Strix varia
  Long-eared owl, Asio otus (R)
  Short-eared owl, Asio flammeus
  Northern saw-whet owl, Aegolius acadicus
caption: Great horned owl
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