Tawny Owl

The Tawny Owl (*Strix aluco*) is found in woodlands of Eurasia and North Africa. It's a stocky, medium-sized owl, whose underparts are pale with dark streaks, and whose upper body may be either brown or grey. The tawny owl makes it's nest in a tree hole and young against potential predators. It is non-migratory, as a result, when young birds grow up and leave the nest, if they cannot find a vacant territory to claim as their own, they will often starve.

The tawny owl is a nocturnal bird of prey. It is able to hunt at night and its ability to fly silently. It hunts by dropping from a perch and seizing it's prey, which it swallows whole. It hunts rodents, It also sometimes catch smaller owls, and itself sometimes hunted by the Eagle owl and the Northern Goshawk.

Many people think that all owl species make a hooting sound, but that is an overgeneralization based on the call of this particular species. In addition, the double hoot, which many people think is the tawny owl’s call, is actually a call and response between a male and a female

Description

The Tawny Owl is a bird Its large rounded head lacks ear tufts, and the facial disc surrounding the dark brown eyes is usually rather plain. The nominate race has two morphs which differ in their plumage colour, one form having rufous brown upperparts and the other greyish brown, although intermediates also occur. The underparts of both morphs are whitish and streaked with brown. Feathers are moulted gradually between June and December.

The tawny owl flies with long glides on rounded wings, less undulating and with fewer wingbeats than other Eurasian owls, and typically at a greater height. The flight of the tawny owl is rather heavy and slow, particularly at takeoff. As with most owls, its flight is silent because of its feathers' soft, furry upper surfaces and a fringe on the leading edge of the outer primaries. Its size, squat shape and broad wings distinguish it from other owls found within its range; great grey owl, eagle owl and Ural owls are similar in shape, but much larger.

The commonly heard female contact call is a shrill, *kew-wick* but the male has a quavering advertising song *hoot hoot*. William Shakespeare used this owl's song in *Love's Labour's Lost* (Act 5, Scene 2) as "Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whit; Tu-who, a merry note, but this call is actually a duet, with the female making the *kew-wick* sound, and the male responding *hoot*.

Feeding

The tawny owl hunts night, watching from a perch before dropping or gliding silently down to its victim, but very occasionally it will hunt in daylight when it has young to feed. This species takes a wide range of prey, mainly woodland rodents, but also other mammals up to the size of a young rabbit, and birds, earthworms and beetles. In urban areas, birds make up a larger proportion of the diet, and species as unlikely as mallard and kittiwake have been killed and eaten.

Less powerful woodland owls such as the little owl and the long-eared owl cannot usually co-exist with the stronger tawny owls, which may take them as food items, and are found in different habitats; in Ireland the absence of the tawny owl allowed the long-eared owl to become the dominant owl. Similarly, where the tawny owl has moved into built-up areas, it tends to displace barn owls from their traditional nesting sites in buildings.