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Indian eagle-owl

species of bird

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Science and natureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 16, 2026
Entity authorityQ817172 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Indian eagle-owl (Bubo bengalensis), or the Bengal eagle-owl or rock eagle-owl, is a large horned owl species native to hilly and rocky scrub forests in the Indian subcontinent. It is splashed with brown and grey, and has a white throat patch with black small stripes. It was earlier treated as a subspecies of the Eurasian eagle-owl. It is usually seen in pairs. It has a deep resonant booming call that may be heard at dawn and dusk.

Taxonomy

Bubo bengalensis was the scientific name used by James Franklin in 1831 for an eagle-owl, that was collected in northern India.

Description

This species is often considered a subspecies of the Eurasian eagle-owl Bubo bubo and is very similar in appearance. The facial disk is unmarked and has a black border, a feature that is much weaker in the Eurasian form. The base of the primaries is unbanded and rufous. The tail bands have the tawny bands wider than the black ones.

Editorial summary

“Indian eagle-owl” enters the record as species of bird. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Indian, eagle-owl and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA sound reference starting point where classification, measurement and the date of the underlying evidence remain visible. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1831—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Indian, eagle-owl and species.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Indian eagle-owl” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Indian, eagle-owl and species provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q817172. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1831.

Critical limits

A general summary may omit uncertainty, sample limits or methodological disagreement that is explicit in the technical record. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.

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  • Current terminology
  • Classification context
  • Finding cited technical literature
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Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Indian eagle-owl”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Indian eagle-owl primary sources, Indian eagle-owl archive and Indian research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Indian eagle-owl”?
  2. Has classification or technical consensus changed since the cited source?
  3. Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Indian eagle-owl” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.