has the potential to encounter other larger owls such as the snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus) in winter and the Blakiston's fish owl (Bubo blakistoni) in the far east of the range, but are unlikely to interact extensively given the differences in habitat usage. Apart from the aforementioned species, most other owl species that the Ural owl encounters in its range are significantly smaller. Furthermore, the Ural owl tends to dominate these species when encounters occur and so may be avoided. One species that often shares similar habitat and prey preferences with the Ural owl is the boreal owl. However, based on territory spacing, the boreal owls can appear to more strictly avoid the tawny owl, which is known to be highly aggressive in its territorial behaviour year-around while studies have indicated territorial exclusion by Ural owls is largely confined to the breeding season. It was hypothesized, however, in forested southern Poland that boreal owls selected nest sites not out of avoidance of tawny owls but based on the availability of suitable nesting sites. In the south Poland study, tawny owls usually occurred more so in fir-spruce woodland. In Slovenia, it was theorized that boreal owls incidentally benefited from the exclusion of tawny owls by dominant Ural owls when the three species occurred in adjacent habitats. However, evidence indicates that the boreal owls faces higher mortality when they nest too close to Ural owls, i.e. within about . A similar relationship has been detected between the Ural owl and the Eurasian pygmy owl (Glaucidium passerinum), a species less than half the size of a boreal owl. However, the pygmy owl usually selected different forest types than Ural owls in areas of sympatry, in particular fir woodland, wherein the Ural tends to be rare or absent. However, ecological interactions were detected in Slovenia, as the pygmy owl was observed to display antipredator behaviour against Ural owls. Despite the different preferred forest habitat, 46.3% of ranges of Ural and Eurasian pygmy owls overlapped in Slovakia. Quite little is known about the ecological interactions between the Ural owl and the northern hawk owl (Surnia ulula), another boreal owl, despite a shared propensity for utilizing snags as nest sites. Hawk owls are also routine vole predators but share more ecological characteristics with the great grey owl than the Ural owls, in particular their nomadic behaviours and irruptive movements. Furthermore, hawk-owl’s stronger tendency for diurnality may