A pet owner was shocked when he mistook his Turkmenian eagle owl for a giant moth perched on his curtains in Japan.

The bird lover found his owl, Kohaku, resting on the curtains with its wings folded up in a V-shape similar to the noisy insect in their home in the Ibaraki Prefecture.

He said: 'When I came back from the toilet, I thought that there was a really big cicada in the house and I almost fell over.'

The Turkmenian eagle owl is a sub-species of the Eurasian eagle owl. They are found in mountainous regions across Eurasia, and have distinct ear tufts sticking out of their heads.

Eurasian eagle owls are among the largest species of owls. They are designated 'least concern' under the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List.