The genus of house owls (Athene) is distributed only in the eastern hemisphere. This genus includes medium-sized owls, with a total length of approximately 20-23 cm, without feather ears, dense build, with rounded, moderately long wings, with a short tail. The facial disc is full, sharply defined. The plumage of the legs varies - in the southern forms the toes are covered with bristles, in the northern ones they are feathery to the claws. House owls inhabit mainly open, often cultural landscapes, and do not avoid deserts. The exception is the Indian motley owl (A. blewitti), which inhabits the dense forests of India. The common house owl (A. noctua) has a length of 23-28 cm, with a wingspan of 57-64 cm, a wing length of 15-18 cm, weighs 160-180 g.
There are geographical differences in size, with females being larger than males. The coloration of adult males and females is brown on top with light whitish spots, especially large ones on the back of the head, neck, shoulders, and wings. Flight feathers are brownish, with grayish tops and a whitish transverse pattern, tail feathers are brownish with ocher-whitish transverse stripes. The ventral side is white with a brown longitudinal pattern; the obverse disc, undertail, and tarsus are white. Eyes yellow, beak yellowish-brown, claws blackish-brown. The little owl is widespread in Central and Southern Europe, North Africa (including the Sahara, south to Sudan, eastern Ethiopia and Somalia), Anterior, Central and Central Asia (south to Iraq, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, east to North China, Tibet and Korea).
It prefers to preserve itself in the open landscape, both in the mountains and on the plains. In the north, it is largely associated with the cultural landscape; in the south, it is found mainly in arid areas (deserts, semi-deserts, etc.). A resident bird.
The little owl forms permanent pairs, males and females stay together outside the breeding season. It nests in burrows, in cliffs, in buildings, sometimes in stacks of hay, apparently, sometimes it digs its own nesting holes. He does not actually have a nest. Clutches are common in April, in the south already at the end of March. It contains 4-5, sometimes more (up to 8) white eggs. Mainly female incubates for about 4 weeks. At one month old, the chicks leave the nest, but reach full growth when they are 5 weeks old. At first, the broods keep together.
The little owl hunts during the day, but mainly at dusk and early in the night. Food consists of rodents, insects, reptiles, and birds. A small owl that looks like a downy owl. It differs from it in a lighter color, longitudinal (not rounded) white streaks on the head and an indistinct facial disc. The head is large, flattened, the fingers are feathered. Sitting, sometimes wags its tail, especially when seeing a person (Boehme et al., 1998). The voice is a sharp "ku-vit, ku-vit" (Syroechkovsky, Rogacheva, 1980).
Spread. A rare South Eurasian species that nests in the desert mountains and rocky deserts of Northwestern Mongolia and Southeastern Altai. Listed in Appendix II of CITES. For Central Siberia, apparently, a stray species (Rogacheva, 1988).
P.P. Sushkin (1914) suggested nesting of the house owl in Tuva, where it was later found by A.I. Yanushevich (1952). The only specimen within the Krasnoyarsk Territory was obtained by P.P. Sushkin on December 26, 1908 in the village. Us. Breeds in rocky deserts, semi-deserts and dry steppes with separate rocks or stone ridges. It enters the mountains up to an altitude of 2800 m (Sushkin, 1938). Rare everywhere (Rogacheva, 1988).
Reproduction. Nests are arranged in various shelters, holes, wall cracks (Syroechkovsky, Rogacheva, 1980).
Food. It feeds on rodents, large insects, lizards (Syroechkovsky, Rogacheva, 1980).
