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The Tawny Owl is the most common of our native species, it is also the most nocturnal so it is not seen very often. It is a very noisy owl and is recognised by it’s “ Twit twoo” call, this is heard more at the end of the year as the Tawny Owl is the first of our owl species to breed so they are calling to one another as they pair up and find their own territories, they are very aggressive owls and very protective of their territory and their young.

The Tawny Owl is mainly brown in colour and they are slightly larger than the Barn Owl, they also have a large facial disk and large dark eyes and their ear openings are very large as they also rely on their hearing to find their prey. Like most owls the Tawny has a silent flight, their soft feathers and the fringed edges of the wings help them to achieve this. Unlike the Barn Owl who hunts by quartering the fields, flying backward and forward, the Tawny flies from tree to tree in search of food although they will still hunt, this involves very little effort for the owl who will sit for long periods of time just listening for prey, this consists mainly of small rodents but they have also been seen catching fish in small streams and ponds. Tawny Owls often sit in the road at night which often proves fatal for them.

The Tawny Owl is a woodland owl and is happy to live wherever there are trees, this includes, parks, large gardens and copses.

The Tawny Owl  will nest in holes in trees, old crow’s nests and even squirrel dreys, they have also been known to lay their eggs underground in rabbit holes.

There are approximately 20,000 breeding pairs of Tawny Owls in Britain, they are not found wild in Ireland. The Tawny Owl has been in decline for several years now.

THE TAWNY OWL

Latin Name. .  Strix aluco

Distribution.  The Tawny Owl is the commonest owl in Europe, it is also found in Scandinavia, Asia Minor, the Middle East and East China.

Breeding. . The female lays  one clutch a year  of three  to five eggs in February/March. Incubation is 28 to 29 days. The young leave the nest at 29 to 35 days and are flying well at  7 weeks.

Status.  The Tawny Owl is fairly common everywhere but there is cause for concern as it has been in decline in Britain for some time.

Length. 37 to 39 cm.   Wingspan. 94 to 104 cm.

Weight. 330 to 470g.  (These figures are for males, females are up to a third larger.)

 

 

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