Owls in China
Our list for China has 7 owls recorded regularly there: 1 resident, 2 summer visitors, 3 winter visitors and 1 scarce visitor
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in China in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 7, most common first
Little OwlAthene noctuaResidentUncommon21–23 cmRecorded all year
Oriental Scops-owlOtus suniaSummer visitorUncommon16–20 cmRegularly Apr–Oct
Short-eared OwlAsio flammeusWinter visitorUncommon34–43 cmRegularly Oct–Apr
Long-eared OwlAsio otusWinter visitorUncommon35–40 cmRegularly Sep–Jul
Eurasian Scops-owlOtus scopsSummer visitorRare19–21 cmRegularly May–Jul
Snowy OwlBubo scandiacusWinter visitorRare52–71 cmRegularly Nov–Mar
Boreal OwlAegolius funereusScarceRare21–28 cm
Smallest to largest
Length, cm- Oriental Scops-owl 16–20 cm
- Eurasian Scops-owl 19–21 cm
- Little Owl 21–23 cm
- Boreal Owl 21–28 cm
- Long-eared Owl 35–40 cm
- Short-eared Owl 34–43 cm
- Snowy Owl 52–71 cm
Body length, bill to tail. Rare birds in grey.
Data: EOD – eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), accessed via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0. Records from 2019–2024, aggregated and filtered by Birdfact. How these lists are made