Recording of Tawny Owl calling in Lt Abington

There have been a number of recent reports of a Tawny Owl calling from the woods behind Church Lane, but Kumar has gone further, and managed to very quietly get close enough to make this lovely recording.

Click on this link to hear it: Abington resident Tawny Owl

Male and female Tawny Owl both call during the night, particularly in the autumn and early winter, to establish territories, and to make contact and attract a mate. 

The hooting territorial call of the male (as in Kumar's recording) being most familiar, starts with a drawn-out 'hoooouh', pauses for a few seconds, then ends with a resonant ..... hoo-hoo-hooooouh'.

Both sexes also make a more harsh 'kewick' contact call, and during courtship, the male and female may respond to one-another, combining their calls to make the commonly quoted 'too-wit too-woo' which is a combination of the 'kewick' (female) and 'hoo-hoo-hooooouh' (male) calls.

Tawny Owl [photo Russell Savory, BTO]