Tawny Owl

How to recognise it

• Large, rounded head with a fairly flat face and no ear tufts
• Dark brown eyes in a facial disc that is usually fairly plain
• Upperparts rufous brown or greyish brown, underparts whitish with brown streaks
• The female is clearly larger than the male and more than 25 percent heavier

Call and song

The commonest call is a shrill contact call, ke-vitt. The male announces himself with a quavering hoo ... ho, ho, hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo. Typical is a duet where the female calls ke-vitt and the male answers with his hooting. The male's territorial song carries far from September to November and in early spring.

Where and when

In Sweden the Tawny Owl occurs north to southern Västerbotten, and the population is estimated at 10 000 to 20 000 pairs. According to the Swedish Bird Survey it declined significantly during the 2010s. It is reported most in February. Its share of all bird reports is highest in Västmanland, Örebro and Kronoberg.

Food and behaviour

By day it stays hidden and only sets out to hunt at dusk. It watches from a branch and then drops or glides silently down onto its prey. Its food is mainly woodland rodents, along with other mammals up to the size of a young rabbit, birds, earthworms and beetles. Near the nest it may attack dogs, cats and people, sometimes unprovoked.