The tawny owl is a medium sized owl with a stocky body and a large round head.
Breeding birds: 50,000 pairs
Family: Owls
The adult tawny owl has plumage that ranges from reddish-brown to grey-brown with mottled upperparts. It has a diagonal line of white spots on its shoulder and dark barred streaks on its underparts.
The round facial disk is pale grey with dark concentric rings around the eyes. The hooked beak is pale yellow, the eyes are black, and the legs and feet are grey.
Both sexes are similar but the female is larger.
Juvenile tawny owls are plaer with shaggy, loose plumage.
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Tawny owls will nest in a natural hole in a tree or in the old nests of crows, magpies, or other birds of prey.
They lay 2-6 pure white, smooth glossy eggs which are incubated for 28-30 days by the female alone. Fledging occurs at 28-35 days but the chicks are dependent on their parents for food for up to 3 months before they leave the nest.
Tawny owls hunt for small mammals, such as shrews, rodents, young rabbits and small birds as well as fish, insects and amphibians and reptiles.
They are mainly nocturnal although will occasionally hunt during the day.
Tawny owls can be seen all year round across England, Wales and Scotland. They are not found in Ireland or some of the Scottish islands as they do not like flying over water.
Pioneering wildlife photographer Eric Hosking lost an eye to a tawny owl and his subsequent biography was called, rather fittingly, An Eye For A Bird.
