Strix aluco
Silhouette: Caroline Legg · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The tawny owl (Strix aluco), also called the brown owl, is a stocky, medium-sized owl in the family Strigidae. It is commonly found in woodlands across Europe, as well as western Siberia, and has seven recognized subspecies. The tawny owl's underparts are pale with dark streaks, whilst its upper body may be either brown or grey (in several subspecies, individuals may be of both colours). The tawny owl typically makes its nest in a tree hole where it can protect its eggs and young against potential predators. It is non-migratory and highly territorial: as a result, when young birds grow up and leave the parental nest, if they cannot find a vacant territory to claim as their own, they will often starve.
The tawny owl is a nocturnal bird of prey. It is able to hunt successfully at night because of its vision, hearing adaptations and ability to fly silently. It usually hunts by dropping suddenly from a perch and seizing its prey, which it swallows whole. Its typical prey are rodents, although in urbanised areas its diet includes a higher proportion of birds. It also sometimes catches smaller owls, and is itself sometimes hunted by the eagle owl and the Eurasian goshawk.
Its retina is no more sensitive than a human's. Its directional hearing skill is more important to its hunting success: its ears are asymmetrically placed, which enables it to more precisely pinpoint the location from which a sound originates.
The tawny owl holds a place in human folklore: because it is active at night and has what many humans experience as a haunting call, people have traditionally associated it with bad omens and death. Not all owl species make a hooting sound. The double hoot, the tawny owl's prototypical call, is a call and response between a male and a female. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Białowieża National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 2 | Cévennes National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 3 | Picos de Europa National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 4 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 5 | Pyrénées National Park | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 6 | Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 7 | Gauja National Park | 🇱🇻 Latvia | |
| 8 | Cairngorms National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 9 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 10 | Bavarian Forest National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 11 | Triglav National Park | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | |
| 12 | Aigüestortes National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 13 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 14 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 15 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 16 | Monfragüe National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 17 | Hortobágy National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 18 | Sierra Nevada National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 19 | Camargue | 🇫🇷 France |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Tawny Owl sighting in Białowieża National Park on a given day, based on 148 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 91st most-seen of the 182 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and March–April
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Tawny Owl in Białowieża National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June–July and October–November, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Tawny Owl sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is seen both by day and at night.
Yes
Of the 19 parks where we can rate Tawny Owl sightings, Białowieża National Park has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come Cévennes National Park (France, about 10%) and Picos de Europa National Park (Spain, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Tawny Owl is recorded against all the birds logged in Białowieża National Park (148 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
