[Kevin]: If I were handing out prizes to owls for being the biggest, or smallest, or cutest, some of the winners are obvious. But others are a little harder to pin down. Let’s take a look at some of the more extreme owls from around the world.

So what’s the largest owl in the world? Well, that kind of depends on what you mean by large. Do you mean height? Weight? Wingspan? The tallest owl in the world is probably the Great Gray Owl of northern North America and Eurasia.

It can reach up to 84 centimeters, or 2 feet 9 inches tall, about as tall as a Golden Retriever. But, the Great Gray is all feathers and doesn’t weigh much. And its wingspan isn’t that impressive either.

Blakiston’s Fish-Owl of Northeastern Eurasia is slightly shorter, but it weighs nearly twice as much as a Great Gray. And it has the widest wingspan of all the owls, at up to 190 centimeters, or 6 feet 3 inches, longer than most people can stretch out their arms.

The Eurasian Eagle-Owl is as tall as the Fish-Owl, with a slightly smaller wingspan. But it’s the heaviest owl, weighing as much as nine pounds, or four kilos, about as much as a newborn human baby.

Fossil remains have been found for owls much larger than those alive right now. The largest that we know about so far is an owl called Ornimegalonyx, from Cuba, that lived over 10,000 years ago. This giant was about 3 feet 7 inches tall, or 1.1 meters.

It was a terrestrial bird with reduced wings and breastbone, and probably was not a great flier. Instead it likely terrorized terrestrial prey, capturing them from the ground with the strongest claws we know of for any owl. This image is a life-sized drawing of that bird at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that you can come visit at some point. Come stand beside it and see for yourself just how big this owl was.

The smallest owl in the world is the Elf Owl of southwestern U.S. and Mexico. It’s only about 13 centimeters, or five inches high. And weighs around 40 grams, or one and a half ounces, about as much as a candy bar. The Long-whiskered Owlet, a recently discovered species found in one small location in Peru, was approximately the same size. But given there’ve only been a handful of these birds ever measured, we don’t know if it’s the true runner-up for smallest.

A number of the pygmy-owls and owlets in the genus Glaucidium are not much larger. Probably the smallest Old World owl is the Eurasian Pygmy-Owl. It’s about 6 inches, or 15 centimeters high, and weighs just a little bit more than the Elf Owl.

Most owls eat big insects, other large invertebrates, such as earthworms or crayfish, and vertebrates, like amphibians, reptiles, birds and especially mammals. But, two genera of owls specialize in eating fish: the fish-owls and the fishing-owls.

They’re so specialized on fish that their feet are different than other owls’. All but one of the species has bare legs and feet instead of feathered. And they all have spiky scutes on the bottom of their toes that help them grab slippery fish.

Owls, being creatures of the night, don’t have a lot of chance to show off bright colors. So there are no really colorful owls. The best they do is have some shades red, and perhaps a bit of dull yellow or buff. A number of small tufted owls have red morphs, and maybe they’re the most colorful owls.

But you’re never going to be amazed by any owls with bright colors. Any that you see on the internet with blue eyes or brilliant plumage are fakes. With no brilliant colors, are there any really pretty owls?

Well sure there are. It just depends on what you find pretty. Almost all owls have intricate patterning on their feathers that renders them interesting. But the fine lining and patterns actually make most of them very camouflaged during the day. In the hand they’re lovely. On a tree branch they can be practically invisible.

So which owls stand out? Here are a few that I personally find attractive. The Spectacled Owl has an interesting facial pattern, and the yellowish unmarked belly make it distinctive. The Black-and-white Owl is very striking with his black face and bold barring across its body.

And the White-throated Screech-Owl is very handsome. With its brown head and back, and a dash of color on the belly, and a strong accent of a white throat.

So which owl has the longest ear tufts? It can be hard to judge, but the Crested Owl of Central and South America is probably the winner. Although the Barred Eagle-Owl of South Asia is close.

So many owls do so much the same throughout the world. There aren’t many owls that seem to have gone off on their own doing weird things that no other owls or other birds do. The Burrowing Owl is an exception. Instead of nesting in trees, or even on the ground, it nests underground in burrows.

Sometimes burrows that they’ve dug themselves. But more often they take over ones that some mammal or reptile has excavated. They also nest in loose colonies, being much more social than any other owl. Strange birds.

So what’s the most widespread owl? Well, the Barn Owl wins this one easily. It’s found on every inhabited continent, and even out onto far-flung oceanic islands. The Short-eared Owl is a close runner-up, but it’s not found in Australia. Here are a few honorable mentions.

Long-eared and Boreal Owls are found all around the Northern Hemisphere. In the New World, the Great Horned Owl is notable for its distribution from the near Arctic regions of northern Canada, down to Tierra del Fuego in very southern South America.

In the Old World, the Eurasian Eagle-Owl is found across the entire supercontinent. So what’s the rarest owl? Well given how hard owls are to find, it’s difficult to know which one wins this trophy. For example, what about the Congo Bay-Owl?

It’s been described from only two specimens in Central Africa. And there are only a few photographs, and no sound recordings of the bird in the wild. The specimens clearly showed an owl that was different from anything else on the continent. But where does it live?

Is it endangered? Or is it common in the restricted area where it lives? And there are several other owls like this in the world, only discovered somewhat recently and not really very well studied. I think it’s pretty cool that even for birds as familiar as owls we’re still figuring out just all the different kinds that are out there, and how common or rare they are.

So what’s the cutest owl? Well there’re probably way too many candidates to pick one. And when they’re chicks, they’re even cuter. These are just a few of the more interesting owls that are out there.

There are lots more to explore. I hope this inspires you to read up more about the different owls that are out in the world.