The Tawny Owl is a stocky and robust
medium-sized owl. It is strictly nocturnal,
hunting at night for mice, voles and other
small mammals. It will also kill smaller
owls, but can itself fall victim to Eagle
Owls or Goshawks. Tawny Owls have large,
dark eyes that gather as much light as
possible when hunting. More importantly
they have very sensitive hearing, with the
ears at different heights on the head and
also different sizes. This gives them
directional hearing meaning they can home
in on their prey with high accuracy. Tawny
Owls have two distinct morphs or colour
variations. In general the brown morphs
are common across Europe, with the grey
morph further east and into Asia. They pair
off from the age of one year, and usually
stay together for life. An established pair's
territory is defended year-round and
maintained with little, if any, boundary
change from year to year. They typically
nest in holes in trees but will also use old
magpie nests, squirrel's dreys or holes in
buildings. 2 - 3 eggs are laid and incubated
for upto 30 days.
