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Eastern Grass Owls are small to medium-sized owls. Their plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are different. Female Eastern Grass Owls have a conspicuous, heart-shaped pale facial mask with white and brown outer lining. The front is rufous-brown, the back rufous and dark-brown with some white specks. Male Eastern Grass Owls are paler overall, with a creamy facial mask, a creamy front with sparse small dark specks and a rufous and mid-brown back with white specks. Both sexes have small black eyes, a light-grey bill and legs that are half-way covered with feathers, while the lower half and the legs are pinkish-grey.

Twitcher's tip

They are distinguished from Eastern Barn Owls by their much darker colours, both front and back. In-flight the most conspicuous distinguishing criterion is the length of the legs, which in Eastern Grass Owls trail well behind the tip of the tail.

Previously, Eastern Grass Owls were considered to be race "longimembris" of the "Grass Owl" (Tyto capensis), which is now called "African Grass Owl".

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Eastern Grass Owl is available HERE .

The range of the Eastern Grass Owl extends from the southern slopes of the Himalayas to eastern China southwards, throughout south-eastern Asia (prominently in Taiwan and the Philippines, but also in Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia) to New Guinea and Australia.

There are three separate breeding populations of Eastern Grass Owls in Australia. One resides in the Top End of the NT, another is found along the East coast of QLD, from the tropic of Capricorn to almost the tip of Cape York peninsula. The third, and most widespread, population resides in the Paroo catchment, the Channel country and in the Lake Eyre Basin, including most of western QLD, the north-western tip of NSW, the north-eastern corner of SA and the south-eastern part of the NT. During occasional widespread dispersals Eastern Grass Owls can be found almost anywhere on the Australian continent, with the exception of the far south-eastern corner, i.e. the Great Dividing Range and associated coastal areas of NSW (South of the Clarence River) and VIC (East of Melbourne).

Eastern Grass Owls have a strong preference for tall grass (including swampy areas and heath), reeds or crops (especially cane fields).

A pair of Eastern Grass Owls was observed on a broadacre farm (private property, no public access) 5 km South-East of Bellata, NSW, in October 2013, when the birds that had settled into a wheat crop were disturbed by the combine harvester (both birds escaped without injury).

A credible report has reached us of an independent sighting of a single Eastern Grass Owl, ca. 10 km from the location of our sighting, in October 2013.

Shortly later, in early November 2013, at the end of the harvest of winter crops, only the female Eastern Grass Owl was seen at the location where a pair had been found earlier.

A publication containing a more complete account of our sightings is available here (1.3 MB PDF).

In October/November 2015 a single male Eastern Grass Owl was again spotted on and around the same farm, 5 km South-East of Bellata, NSW. This time, the bird was not only flushed from its daytime roost, but also seen hunting above the stubble of the harvested field later the same night. Two weeks later, a female Eastern Grass Owl was flushed from a creek gully at the same farm.

The farmer is certain that Eastern Grass Owls have been living on his fields in previous years too.

At almost the same time two more Eastern Grass Owls were flushed during harvest on a farm about 10 km East of Edgeroi, NSW, some 10 km from the location of the sightings mentioned above. And two more Eastern Grass Owls were spotted near Ashley, 20 km North of Moree, also in November 2015.

Farmers (and others) who think they may have spotted Eastern Grass Owls are encouraged to contact us with information.