Greatest wingspan for an owl

The owls that possess the greatest wingspan are the Eurasian eagle owl Bubo bubo and Blakiston's eagle owl B. blakistoni, both of which can attain in large adult female specimens a total wingspan of up to 2 m. The latter species is native to Japan, eastern Russia (including Siberia) and also Manchuria in China.

Traditionally, Blakiston's eagle owl was considered to be more closely related to the fish owls than to the eagle owls, and for a long time was duly referred to as Blakiston's fish owl. In 2003, however, osteological studies and DNA analyses both confirmed that it was, in fact, more closely allied to eagle owls, thereby warranting its name change.