Tawny Owl
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For the Animals of Farthing Wood character, see Tawny Owl (Farthing Wood)
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 Brown individual, probably of Strix aluco aluco
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| Strix aluco Linnaeus, 1758 |
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The Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) is a species of owl resident in much of Europe and southern Russia.
This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls, Strigidae, which contains most species of owl.
It is a medium-sized earless owl, 37-43 cm in length with an 81-96 cm wingspan. The Tawny Owl is stocky with a large rounded head and rounded wings. It occurs in two colour phases, rufous brown and greyish brown, with all intermediate forms. The pale underparts are streaked with brown and the facial disc is rather plain. The eyes are dark brown. The Tawny Owl has a strong direct flight.
The Tawny Owl is found in deciduous and mixed forests and usually nests in holes in trees. Smaller woodland owls such as the Little Owl and the Long-eared Owl cannot usually co-exist with the stronger Tawny, and are found in different habitats. However, in Ireland, where there are no Tawnies, the Long-eared Owl is found in all suitable woodland. This species is capable of killing prey such as Brown Rats. It is largely nocturnal and very sedentary.
This species probably injures more people than any other European bird. It is fearless in defence of its nest and young, and strikes for the intruder's face with its sharp talons. Since its flight is silent, at night in particular it may not be detected until too late.
Calls vary a great deal, but the classic and most often heard territorial calls are the quavering hoo ... pause ... hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo by the male and the kew-wick of the female. Famously, the call tu-whit tu-whoo was immortalised by William Shakespeare[citation needed]. However, this call is given only by two communicating owls of different gender. The female owl emits the "tu-whit", while the male owl broadcasts the "tu-whoo".
The Tawny Owl has extremely capable eyes. Its retina has about 56,000 light-sensitive rods per square millimeter, enabling it to pick out prey several meters away by the light of one candle over 500 meters away. In low-level light conditions, this is about 100 times better than the eyes of humans.
Hume's Owl, Strix butleri was formerly sometimes considered to be a subspecies of Tawny Owl, but is now classed as a separate species. The numerous recognized Tawny Owl subspecies are best told apart on basis of geography, but such identifications are often not completely certain; the range limits of many of the European and W Asian subspecies are not well known. Several proposed subspecies such as claceyi, volhyniae, and obscurata are today not considered valid by most authorities.
The Early-Middle Pleistocene Strix intermedia is sometimes considered a paleosubspecies of the Tawny Owl. In this case, it would be the immediate ancestor of S. a. aluco.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Strix aluco. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
[edit] External links
- ARKive - images and movies of the tawny owl (Strix aluco)
- Picture of Tawny Owl chick and other Owl Pictures
