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Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) — photo 1 of 3
© Alexander Flume CC BY-SA 3.0

Owls

Tawny Owl

Strix aluco

Year-round

Voice

Song

Jurijs Ješkins

0:11

Call

Sonothèque ADVL

0:10

Song

Robert Petersen

0:30

How to recognize it

  • 37–46 cm, a little larger than a crow

  • Round head, no ear tufts

  • Upperparts brown or grey-brown; underparts pale with dark streaks

  • Silent night flight; male long "hoo...hoo-hoo-hoo", female sharp "kew-wick"

About the species

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.

Where to find

  • In mature city parks with large deciduous trees — listen after dusk for the long hooting from the canopy, especially near trunks with cavities.

  • Along pond edges, canal banks, and river-side plantings — at night it may perch on a low branch by the water and drop suddenly onto prey.

  • In quiet cemeteries and old gardens with ancient trees — by day it stays tucked into dense foliage, giving itself away only by a rounded grey head.

  • On outer avenues with little traffic noise — in spring the male calls more often, and the hoot carries well over rooftops.

You might also see

Sources