The Abyssinian Owl or African Long-eared Owl, Asio abyssinicus, is a medium-sized owl

Typical owl

True owl or Typical owl are one of the two generally accepted families of Owls, the other being the barn owls . The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy unites the Caprimulgiformes with the owl order; here, the typical owls are a subfamily Strigidae...

 with yellow eyes, a black bill and gray eyebrows. It is similar in appearance to the Long-eared Owl

Long-eared Owl

The Long-eared Owl - Asio otus is a species of owl which breeds in Europe, Asia, and North America. This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls, family Strigidae, which contains most species of owl...

, Asio otus, but is overall darker, and their ranges do not overlap. It has long, brown, white-edged ear tufts that are slightly centrally located on the head.

This owl prefers open grasslands or moorlands with oak or cedar forests, and it occurs in mountain valleys and gorges up to 3900 meters (12,800 ft.) above sea level. It lives in a large range in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...

 to Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

(BirdLife International 2007).