great owl

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

Concise Bible Dictionary:

In the passages that speak of the unclean birds “the owl....the little owl....and the great owl,” are enumerated (Lev. 11:16-1716And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind, 17And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl, (Leviticus 11:16‑17); Deut. 14:15-1615And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind, 16The little owl, and the great owl, and the swan, (Deuteronomy 14:15‑16)). The Hebrew for the first is bath yaanah. (See Ostrich.) The second is kos: it occurs in the above two passages and in Psalm 102:66I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert. (Psalm 102:6); and doubtless refers to the owl. The third, yanshuph, occurs also in Isaiah 34:1111But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness. (Isaiah 34:11). This in the LXX and Vulgate is the “ibis,” and has been supposed by some to refer to the Ibis religiosa, a sacred bird of Egypt. There is also lilith in Isaiah 34:1414The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. (Isaiah 34:14) only, translated “screech owl” (margin and RV, “nightmonster”); its reference is doubtful. Also qippoz in Isaiah 34:1515There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate. (Isaiah 34:15) only, “great owl,” (RV, “arrowsnake”; LXX and Vulgate “hedgehog,” reading perhaps qippod with six Hebrew MSS.) There are several well-known species of the owl, but to which of them these various words refer cannot be specified with certainty. The Athene meridionalis is the owl most common in Palestine; the Strix flammea is the white owl.
Athene Noctua – The Little Owl (commonly found in Israel).
Tyto Alba – The Barn Owl (also commonly found in Israel).

Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew Words:

Number:
7091 (find all occurrences in KJV Bible)
Transliteration:
qippowz
Phonic:
kip-poze’
Meaning:
from an unused root meaning to contract, i.e. spring forward; an arrow-snake (as darting on its prey)
KJV Usage:
great owl