English:  Great Grey Owl, Lapland Owl, Dark Wood Owl, Striped Owl
Russian:  Бородатая неясыть
Mongolian: Угалзан ууль, Угалзан бэгбаатар  
German: Bartkauz  
French: Chouette lapone 
Japanese:　カラフトフクロウ  (Karafuto-fukuro)

Body length: 59-68cm
Wing span: 128-148 cm

Mainly resident in lowland boreal forests, often near bogs or infields; rare and local. Partly nomadic. Mainly crepuscular (incl. on light northern summer nights). Food almost exclusively voles (in spite of size-bulk made up of feathers, not muscles and bones!), caught on ground after watch from perch. Nests in abandoned raptor’s nest or on top of broken tree trunk, rarely on ground. Some are aggressive when their young are about to leave nest, others fairly tame and will permit rather close observation.

Identification: Large, with thick neck and proportionately very large and rounded head, looking like a sawn-off log in profile. Wings very long, broad and rounded, tail fairly long, well rounded. Impressive-looking in flight, with measured, slow wingbeats (almost heron-like), capable of  long glides. Basically dusky grey with darker grey pattern, underside paler, breast and belly coarsely streaked and finely vermiculated. Facial pattern surrounding small yellow eyes and bill striking with white ‘eye-bows’ and black chin. Upperwing shows conspicuous large pale buff patch at base of primaries and dark grey carpal area and forewing; shoulders pale grey (‘braces’). Uppertail has broad dark terminal bar (lacking on Ural and Eagle Owls). When pair seen, ♀ larger and often with proportionately slightly smaller head.