Tawny owl
Strix aluco
A medium-sized woodland owl with a round head, dark eyes and no ear tufts. Confirmed in Georgia as a year-round resident and breeder on the 2024 national bird checklist.
Overview
What is Tawny owl
The tawny owl (Strix aluco) is a medium-sized woodland owl (family Strigidae) confirmed in Georgia as a year-round resident. The 2024 annotated checklist of the birds of Georgia codes it YR-R: a breeder present throughout the year. Seasonality is classed as high-quality (code A). Occurrence quality is high (H), with photographs and sound recordings. SABUKO lists the Georgian name ტყის ბუ (forest owl); ჩვეულებრივი ბუ, რუხი ბუ and ჩვეულებრივი ტყის ბუ are also used. Adults are about 37–46 cm long at species level, with no ear tufts and dark eyes. It is not a threat to people. IUCN lists the species as Least Concern. The 2024 checklist assigns the same category nationally.
Last updated
Gallery
Tawny owl in photos
Photo: Andreas Trepte
Marburg ·
Photo: Michael Gäbler
Lüneburg Heath Wildlife Park ·
Photo: nottsexminer
Beldibi, Marmaris ·
Photo: Zoran Gavrilović
Vršac Mountains ·
Identification
How to identify Tawny owl
A compact medium-sized owl with a round head, dark eyes and no ear tufts. Confirmed in Georgia as a year-round resident on the 2024 checklist. The usual confusion is long-eared owl, which has ear tufts and orange eyes.
- 01
Length at species level is about 37–46 cm, wingspan about 81–105 cm, mass often about 385–800 g. Females are typically larger than males (about 5% longer and more than 25% heavier). The head is large and round, with no ear tufts. The facial disc is clear; the eyes are dark brown or black, not yellow. The bill is short, yellowish and hooked. The body is stocky, the wings broad, the tail relatively short.
- 02
Plumage has two main types: grey-brown and rufous-brown, with intermediates. In both, the underparts are pale with dark lengthways streaks. The back is mottled for camouflage. Juveniles are fluffier and more barred across; the eye is still dark. NPLG notes grey and dark-brown types in Transcaucasia, including Georgia. Field identification is to species, not colour type.
- 03
Long-eared owl (Asio otus) is also a year-round resident on the 2024 Georgian checklist; it has long ear tufts, orange eyes and a slimmer body. Short-eared owl (Asio flammeus) is an open-country bird, often active by day, with short ear tufts. Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo) is much larger, with ear tufts and orange eyes. Little owl (Athene noctua) is small, with yellow eyes. Eurasian scops owl (Otus scops) is small, tufted, and a breeding migrant in Georgia. Barn owl (Tyto alba) has a heart-shaped face and is pale; it is on the 2014 Red List. Boreal owl (Aegolius funereus) is a smaller forest owl with yellow eyes. This atlas does not yet have separate pages for those species.
- 04
It is not a threat to people. Do not handle it. A round-headed, dark-eyed owl without ear tufts hooting at night in Georgian woodland is this species, not eagle-owl.
Biology
Habitat, diet, behavior, and conservation
Habitat and range
In Georgia look in woodland, forest edge, and parks or gardens with old trees — not evenly on treeless high plateaus or open steppe. This page does not colour a municipality-by-municipality map. The 2024 checklist confirms country-level resident status but does not publish a regional gazetteer. Species-level habitat is deciduous or mixed forest, also floodplain woodland, cemeteries, large gardens and city parks with mature trees; a cavity is needed for nesting. Closed boreal conifer forest is less typical. A separate national elevation band for Georgia is not published here. Elsewhere in the range it breeds high in mountains (species-level literature cites about 2,350 m in Turkey); that is not a measured Georgian limit. The atlas map is left uncoloured until named Georgian localities are taken from sources that actually list them.
Diet
There is no separate Georgian diet study on this page. Across the range the main prey is small woodland mammals, especially voles and mice. Birds, amphibians, beetles and earthworms are also taken. In built-up areas birds often make up a larger share. Prey is usually swallowed whole; indigestible parts are later coughed up as pellets — fur and bone may be found at the base of a roost tree. That is species-level diet, not a measured Georgian menu.
Behavior
It is mainly active at night. By day it roosts in the canopy or against a trunk; it is often heard before it is seen. It is territorial and stays on site year-round; it is not a long-distance migrant. The male territorial call is a quavering hoot; the contact call is a short, sharp kee-wick. Both sexes can give both calls; the familiar “twit twoo” is often a pair duet, not one bird saying both parts. Nesting is usually in a tree hole, less often in a building cavity or an old magpie nest; nest boxes are used. Species-level clutches are often two or three white eggs; incubation is about 28–30 days (BTO figures from the United Kingdom). Young leave the cavity some days before they can fly and hide on nearby branches. Those figures are from the wider range, not a Georgian nest sample on this page. The 2024 checklist treats the species as a breeding resident in Georgia. Do not handle it; birds may strike people near the nest.
Conservation
BirdLife International assesses Strix aluco as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. The 2024 Georgian checklist assigns LC globally and nationally. It is not on Georgia’s 2014 Red List (Resolution No. 190); among owls that list includes barn owl (Tyto alba, EN D1). A Georgian population trend is not measured on this page. Documented pressures at species level include loss of old cavity trees, road mortality and secondary poisoning from rodenticides; that is not a ranked national threat list for Georgia. It is listed on CITES Appendix II, so international trade is regulated. Do not catch wild birds.
Yes. The 2024 annotated checklist of the birds of Georgia treats it as a confirmed year-round resident (YR-R): a breeder present all year. Evidence is photographs and sound recordings.
In woodland, forest edge, and parks or gardens with old trees. This page has no municipality list and does not colour a regional map. Presence is confirmed at country level, not by region.
Round head, no ear tufts, dark eyes, stocky body, pale underparts with dark streaks. At night listen for a quavering hoot and a kee-wick. Long-eared owl has ear tufts and orange eyes.
About 37–46 cm long at species level, wingspan about 81–105 cm. Females are usually larger than males. There is no separate measured Georgian series on this page.
Mainly small mammals, especially rodents; also birds and invertebrates. Diet in Georgia is not separately studied on this page.
All year, according to the 2024 checklist. It is not treated there as a passage migrant or winter-only visitor. It is easiest to detect at night by voice.
Yes. YR-R on the 2024 checklist means a breeding resident. The nest is usually a tree hole. Georgian clutch dates are not tabulated here.
It is not venomous. It may strike near a nest; do not approach. It is Least Concern globally and nationally on the 2024 checklist. It is not on Georgia’s 2014 Red List. Do not catch wild birds.
- Budagashvili & Javakhishvili 2024 — The birds of Georgia (Sandgrouse 46)
- SABUKO — Bird checklist
- BirdLife DataZone — Tawny Owl
- IUCN Red List — Strix aluco
- IOC World Bird List
- Avibase — Georgia bird checklist
- NPLG Wiki Dictionaries — ჩვეულებრივი ტყის ბუ
- საქართველოს მთავრობის დადგენილება №190 (2014) — წითელი ნუსხა
- BTO — Best practice guidance for ringing and nest recording tawny owls
- Holt et al. — Birds of the World (Strix aluco)
- Sharikov et al. 2015 — Territorial calls of Strix aluco aluco and S. a. willkonskii
- Wikimedia Commons — Strix aluco (Michael Gäbler, CC BY 3.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Waldkauz (Andreas Trepte, CC BY-SA 2.5)
- Wikimedia Commons — Tawny Owl, Beldibi (nottsexminer, CC BY-SA 2.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Tawny Owl chicks (Zoran Gavrilović, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- xeno-canto XC1174406 — Strix aluco (Thierry THOMAS, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
Related guides
