Our Tawny is a resident owl and stays in its breeding area all year. Hunting takes place at night and the Tawny is perfectly adapted for this. It has extremely sensitive eyes and ears which help it to locate prey in very dim light. The Tawny's hearing is so good that it can pinpoint prey even when it is too dark for its keen eyes to see. The soft plumage and comb-like leading edge to the wingtips enable it to fly silently. The owl waits quietly on a perch and then glides down and pounces on its unsuspecting victim, killing it with its talons or with a quick bite once it as a hold on its prey.
The Tawny's diet depends on the habitat it is living in. In woodland, mice and voles are mainly eaten with some birds, shrews, worms and beetles. In urban areas, small birds may form the main part of the diet such as sparrows and starlings. They have been known to take goldfish from garden ponds. Then again so have I.. :O) but that's another story.
A Tawny owl spends the day roosting on the branch of a tree as the one I have capture here and is often mobbed noisily by small birds such as chaffinches, house sparrows, blue tits and blackbirds, though they seldom manage to disturb the dozing owl.
I have been back to this spot but I found no trace of it again.. I was sure it would be nesting in a hollow tree not from here. I came across the rough pellets that owls and hawks regurgitate but all of them are old. It seems that it as moved on.
Our Tawny is a resident owl and stays in its breeding area all year. Hunting takes place at night and the Tawny is perfectly adapted for this. It has extremely sensitive eyes and ears which help it to locate prey in very dim light. The Tawny's hearing is so good that it can pinpoint prey even when it is too dark for its keen eyes to see. The soft plumage and comb-like leading edge to the wingtips enable it to fly silently. The owl waits quietly on a perch and then glides down and pounces on its unsuspecting victim, killing it with its talons or with a quick bite once it as a hold on its prey. 
The Tawny's diet depends on the habitat it is living in. In woodland, mice and voles are mainly eaten with some birds, shrews, worms and beetles. In urban areas, small birds may form the main part of the diet such as sparrows and starlings. They have been known to take goldfish from garden ponds. Then again so have I.. :O) but that's another story.
A Tawny owl spends the day roosting on the branch of a tree as the one I have capture here and is often mobbed noisily by small birds such as chaffinches, house sparrows, blue tits and blackbirds, though they seldom manage to disturb the dozing owl. 
I have been back to this spot but I found no trace of it again.. I was sure it would be nesting in a hollow tree not from here. I came across the rough pellets that owls and hawks regurgitate but all of them are old. It seems that it as moved on.
6 comments:
I love owl pictures! Thanks for sharing these.
Very nice owl. We haven't seen any for a while now. Back about ten years ago or longer, we had this one old tree in the back of the yard, and Abe had built a squirrel house and nailed it to the tree. We noticed one day when this squirrel was checking it out, he jumped back like something scared him. Later we saw two little owls sitting in the opening, one looked brownish the other grayish. But they were young and so cute.
I've never spotted an owl but I know they must be there. Your pictures are very nice.
Nice photo of owl. I remembered when I was young, I saw an owl with her babies near my school. One of the baby fall off the nest, so we carry the baby and put it back in the nest that was not very high up in the tree.
I don't know how I missed these--they are very nice. I am 52 years old and I think I have seen one owl living wild in my lifetime. And it was here, and took off at night from the eve of our garage. So I more or less seen a silhouette of it in life. Which reminds me I have not hear it this year...I used to always here it in a neighbors tree at night.
Pete: What a great capture, I enjoyed the pictures of your wise old Owl.
Post a Comment