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For the Animals of Farthing Wood character, see Tawny Owl (Farthing Wood).
| Tawny Owl | ||||||||||||||
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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.
A grey bird, probably also of S. a. aluco
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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 retina of the bird has about 56,000 light-sensitive rods per square millimetre, enabling it to pick out prey several metres away by the light of one candle over 500 metres away. In low-level light conditions, this is about 100 times better than the eyes of humans.
Calls vary a great deal between individual birds, but the stereotypical and most frequently- heard territorial calls are the quavering hoo ... pause ... hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo (which is usually made by the male) and the kew-wick which is a unisex call. Famously, the call tu-whit tu-whoo was immortalised by William Shakespeare in Act 5, Scene 2 of Love\'s Labour\'s Lost. This call is rare, and often confused with the \'duet\' described below. However, it is only urban legend that both sexes make this call.
The normal duet is given by two communicating owls of different gender. The female owl will make the "kew-wick" call, and the male owl will respond with the "hoo".
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. This species is capable of killing prey such as Brown Rats. It is largely nocturnal and very sedentary.
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 recognised 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 West 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.
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, it may not be detected until it is too late to avoid.
Tawny owls appear in the Harry Potter series as the owl used by Hogwarts school for sending messages to students.
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