Tawny Owl

The Tawny Owl is a medium-sized owl (95-105 cm wingspan) native to the Western Palearctic forest habitats. The species has two colour morphs, grey and reddish brown, like many other nocturnal raptors. The adult gray morph has a brown-gray plumage with dark and light brown spots that break the continuity and make it very cryptic. A white or cream band is particularly noticeable in the external scapulars. The underside is white to light beige, streaked and more discreetly barred with brown. The large round head has a pale facial mask with rounded contours well developed. It is cut in the centre by a dark line that joins the beak. It has faint concentric circles around the large dark eyes. The beak, topped with a white X, is straw-coloured. In the reddish morph, the cold brown-gray of the plumage is replaced by a warm reddish-brown, sometimes very vivid, to the greatest effect. But the designs remain the same. The young bird is first covered with a whitish gray down that gives way gradually to the juvenile plumage, paler, looser, more clearly and finely barred than that of the adult. The eye is very dark, with sometimes a bluish aspect in daylight.