Tawny Owl

Tawny Owl has a calm, solid presence, with a round head, dark eyes and a soft shape without ear tufts. It comes in two familiar moods, brownish-red or greyish-brown, with pale underparts marked by darker streaks.

By day it stays quiet and easy to miss, then becomes much livelier after dark. Its voice is the part most people remember, especially the long, drawn-out call of the male and the sharp brief answer of the female, heard most often in the breeding season and in autumn.

It prefers old deciduous and mixed woodland, but also settles in parks, gardens and city corners with big trees. Hunting happens at night, mainly for woodland rodents, though it also takes small mammals, other perching species, earthworms and beetles; prey is swallowed whole and the inedible parts are later coughed up as pellets.