The largest of the Iberian nocturnal raptors and impossible to confuse with any other. Its plumage is marbled brown. Size about 70 cm, and between 2.5 and 3.5 kg. Its wingspan exceeds 150 cm, and has wide ears as large eyebrows, powerful claws and clearly orange eyes. The Iberian subspecies is smaller than the northern ones. They have a high hearing capacity and improved night vision, which together with their claws and their silent flight makes them one of the most efficient nocturnal predators. Its flight is extremely silent. Its flight is tremendously silent. It is present throughout the Iberian Peninsula, and in a variety of habitats, even in the vicinity of cities, as long as there are cliffs or rock faces to nest on and prey to feed on. It makes its nests in rocky walls, and permanently inhabits the territory in which it breeds. The heat is between February and March and, if there are competing males, the resident owl will claim its territory through its claim consisting of two syllables (“uuu-uu”) repeated regularly. It has also been observed that they mark territory on rocks by means of excreta. Their eggs are two to six at the end of winter. It feeds on large and small rodents, small mammals, hedgehogs, medium-sized birds. The powerful claws of the royal owl are endowed with nails that nail their prey.