Booth Museum Bird of the Month, March 2020: Strix aluco

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The Tawny Owl Strix aluco is the focus for the Booth Museum this month.

UK conservation status: Amber 

Tawny owls are woodland birds, their feather patterns offer good camouflage during the day when they roost in trees. You may catch a glimpse of them if they are mobbed and disturbed by small birds that feel threatened by the roosting owl. 

Their short wings allow tawny owls to manoeuvre while hunting in woodlands. They have a varied diet of mice, voles, lizards, bats, worms and slugs!

The tawny owl is absent from the island of Ireland and other islands around the British coasts, as they do not like flying over water.

Kerrie Curzon, Collections Assistant and Lee Ismail, Curator of Natural Sciences