I used to post a lot more, but people don’t seem to get excited by them as much. Same with the Shorty today. I know I like them, but the updoots always seem to slow down for the both of them.

Tawny Owls make me think of a Teddy bear version of a Barred Owl. Tawnies are in Europe and N Africa while the Barred was limited to the US and Canada, basically east of the line the Mississippi River would make if extended until logging gave them a corridor to migrate west. Both range from grey to brown, the Tawnies have a more prominent X along the eyebrows and beak, and the Tawny patterns look a lot fuzzier. Barred Owls have the “who cooks for you? who cooks for you all?” call while Tawnies do the duet call of “Twit-Twoo.” Tawnies always look more relaxed to me, but it must just be the fuzzy looks. Looking it up now, it seems there are plenty of reports of Tawnies attacking people to defend their nests, just like I see in the US news about Barreds doing the same.

I think about them the same as how the Americas have the Great Horned and Eurasia has the Eagle Owl. A close relation, probably with a common ancestor before the continents got too far apart, but they’ve had a lot of time to diverge and become their own things.

Average Size compiled from a few sources: Length: 15-18 inches / 37-46 cm Weight: 0.85-1.75 pounds / 385-800 g

Here’s some people for scale:

Barred

Tawny

And a front/back comparrison:

Barred up top

Tawny down low