and the individual level. However, the Ural owl usually appears as a rather pale grey-brown owl, usually lacking in the warmer, richer colour tones of many other Strix owls, with distinct streaking below. In flight, an Ural owl shows a largely buffish-white underwing marked with heavy dark bars around the trailing edge and tip, while the long white tipped tail often appears slung downwards. Their flight style is reminiscent of a buzzard but with deeper, more relaxed wing beats, with their style of flight often giving the appearance of quite a large bird. The eyes are dark brown, being relatively small and closely set to each other, which is opined to give them a less “fierce” countenance than that of a great grey owl (Strix nebulosa). The eyes are reminiscent of an almond in both shape and colour. The bill is yellowish in colour, with a dirty yellow cere. Meanwhile, the tarsi and toes are covered in greyish feathering and the talons are yellowish brown with darker tips. The Ural owl is a rather large species. Full-grown specimens range in total length from , which may render them as roughly the eight longest owl species in the world (though many owls are heavier on average). Wingspan can vary in the species from . Like most birds of prey, the Ural owl displays reverse sexual dimorphism in size, with the female averaging slightly larger than the male. Reportedly talon size and body mass is the best way to distinguish the two sexes of Ural owl other than behavioral dichotomy based on observations in Finland. Weight is variable through the European part of the range. Males have been known to weigh from and females have been known to weigh from . Voous estimated the typical weight of males and females at and , respectively. It is one of the larger species in the Strix genus, being about 25% smaller overall than the great grey owl, the latter certainly being the largest of extant Strix species in every method of measurement. Body masses reported for some of the more southerly Asian species such as brown wood owl (Strix leptogrammica) and spotted wood owl (Strix selopato) (as well as the similarly sized but unweighed mottled wood owl (Strix ocellata)) show that they broadly overlap in body mass with the Ural owl or are even somewhat heavier typically despite being somewhat smaller in length, being