Musings about Eagle Owls

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

No: HPFGUIDX 27266

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., pigwidgeon37 at y... wrote:

> Is the eagle owl an owl species that really exists or has JKR made
> it up?

http://www.owlpages.com/species/bubo/bubo/Default.htm

Accordingn to The Owl Pages (a great resource for would-be wizards!),
the Eagle Owl not only exists, it has the Linnaean name Bubo bubo. 
IIRC, bubo is Latin for 'owl', so that name suggests that it was 
thought of as the most authentic owl. Our (New World's) Great Horned 
Owl is a relative, Bubo virginianus. 

> The Malfoys' owl and the one that carries letters back and forth 
> between Voldemort and Moody/Crouch clearly can't be the same. So 
> there are two of them and both belong to the most evil charactersof 
> the Potterverse. 

Eagle Owls are the biggest and probably the strongest owls, so they 
are probably the best (can carry bigger packages, can fly farther, 
maybe can fly faster) and most expensive. I expect that owning one 
or more Eagle Owls is more connected with being rich than with being 
evil.