On my appreciation of hooters

[temeres]

I was going to say I haven't seen many Tawny Owls, but actually I have racked up a fair few sightings over the years. Most, however, have been blurry blobs by starlight. Only once did I see one perched out in the open in broad daylight. As it happened it was on a TV aerial rather than in a tree, and because the house was lower down the hill than

Comments

[espresso_addict]

I don't think I can recall seeing a wild one, though I believe one came down the chimney once when I was a child. We see a lot of barn owls hereabouts, ghosting about the lanes, but I'm guessing they're a lot more common.

[temeres]

It's nice to know there's somewhere where there are lots of Barn Owls. I'm surprised you haven't see any Tawnys since as I recall you've got a fair bit of woodland in your area. Or maybe you just hear them.

[espresso_addict]

We do hear a lot of owls, but I wouldn't be able to tell them apart.

[temeres]

The contact call of Tawny Owl is a creaky "kew-eek" with the emphasis on the second syllable. They also make the well-known long mournful hoot (conventionally rendered as "tw-whit tu-whoo, though it doesn't really sound like that). Barn Owl apparently (I've never heard one) issues "an eerie long-drawn shriek", supposedly a bit unnerving if you don't know what's making it.