"Brown owl" redirects here. For other uses, see Brown owl (disambiguation).
Tawny owl
Grey morph individual
Hooting song, UK
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification
Domain:
Eukaryota
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Aves
Order:
Strigiformes
Family:
Strigidae
Genus:
Strix
Species:
S. aluco
Binomial name
Strix aluco
Linnaeus, 1758
Distribution of Strix aluco[image reference needed]
Synonyms
Strix stridulaLinnaeus, 1758
Strix glauxLinnaeus, 1758
The tawny owl (Strix aluco), also called the brown owl, is commonly found in woodlands across Europe to western Siberia, and has seven recognized subspecies. It is a stocky, medium-sized owl, whose underparts are pale with dark streaks, and whose upper body may be either brown or grey (in several subspecies, individuals may be of either color). The tawny owl typically makes its nest in a tree hole where it can protect its eggs and young against potential predators. It is non-migratory and highly territorial: as a result, when young birds grow up and leave the parental 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 successfully at night because of its vision and hearing adaptations and its ability to fly silently. It usually hunts by dropping suddenly from a perch and seizing its prey, which it swallows whole. It hunts mainly rodents, although in urbanized areas its diet includes a higher proportion of birds. It also sometimes catches smaller owls, and is itself sometimes hunted by the eagle owl and the Eurasian goshawk.
Its retina is no more sensitive than a human's. Its directional hearing skill is more important to its hunting success: its ears are asymmetrically placed, which enables it to more precisely pinpoint the location from which a sound originates.
The tawny owl holds a place in human folklore: because it is active at night and has what many humans experience as a haunting call, people have traditionally associated it with bad omens and death. 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 prototypical call, is actually a call and response between a male and a female.[3][4]
^BirdLife International (2016). "Strix aluco". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22725469A86871093. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22725469A86871093.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
The tawnyowl (Strix aluco), also called the brown owl, is commonly found in woodlands across Europe to western Siberia, and has seven recognized subspecies...
owl or desert tawnyowl (Strix hadorami), formerly known as Hume's owl, is a species of owl. It is closely related to the more widespread tawnyowl and...
The tawny fish owl (Ketupa flavipes) is a fish owl species in the family known as typical owls, Strigidae. It is native from southern Nepal to Bangladesh...
The barred owl (Strix varia), also known as the northern barred owl, striped owl or, more informally, hoot owl or eight-hooter owl, is a North American...
John Latham. Its specific epithet is derived from Latin strix 'owl' and oides 'form'. Tawny frogmouths belong to the frogmouth genus Podargus, which includes...
The tawnyowl (Strix aluco) is an opportunistic and generalized predator. Peak hunting activity tends to occur largely between dusk to midnight, with...
The binomial derives from Greek strix "owl" and Italian allocco, "tawnyowl" (from Latin ulucus "screech-owl"). Some early descriptions upon review were...
Tawnyowls are monogamous and territorial year around. Young birds select territories and look for mates in autumn and tend to be very vocal, especially...
today's North American spotted owl or the European tawnyowl; the diversity in size and ecology found in typical owls today developed only subsequently...
flight: white owl, silver owl, demon owl, ghost owl, death owl, night owl, rat owl, church owl, cave owl, stone owl, monkey-faced owl, hissing owl, hobgoblin...
snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus), also known as the polar owl, the white owl and the Arctic owl, is a large, white owl of the true owl family. Snowy owls are...
wood owl is a medium-sized owl which has the typical rounded head of the genus Strix similar to the Palearctic tawnyowl or Holarctic great grey owl, with...
Himalayas to Korea and Taiwan. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of the tawnyowl, but is separated from that species due to its distinctive call, darker...
The little owl (Athene noctua), also known as the owl of Athena or owl of Minerva, is a bird that inhabits much of the temperate and warmer parts of Europe...
owls have also been reported as predators of barn owls, ranging from the scarcely larger tawnyowl to the golden eagle. The goshawk and the eagle owl...
The true owls or typical owls (family Strigidae) are one of the two generally accepted families of owls, the other being the barn owls (Tytonidae). This...
species of owl in order Strigiformes; they are distributed among 25 genera in two families. The 20 species of genera Tyto and Phodilus, the barn owls, are in...
hunt created by Régis Hauser in 1993; see the Golden Owl quest "La chouette hulotte" (the tawnyowl), a piece for solo piano in Catalogue d'oiseaux (1956–58)...
rabbit burrow for nesting. The species has been recorded outcompeting the tawnyowl (Strix aluco) for nest sites in the Netherlands. They can take over old...
Global Information
