Tawny Owl

The tawny owl, also called the brown owl, is a stocky, medium-sized, nocturnal owl, 37–46 cm long with a wingspan of 81–105 cm and a weight of 385–800 g. The underparts are pale with dark streaks, and the upper body is brown or grey, and in several subspecies both colours occur. The large rounded head lacks ear tufts, and the facial disc around the dark brown eyes is usually rather plain. It typically nests in a tree hole (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is non-migratory and highly territorial, so young birds that cannot find a vacant territory often starve. It hunts successfully at night thanks to its vision and hearing and its silent flight, usually dropping suddenly from a perch onto prey, which it swallows whole. In the Himalaya and East Asia the tawny owl is replaced by the Himalayan owl, so the cached account gives nothing specific to India. SoIB 2023 lists it as a resident forest bird that eats vertebrates and carrion, without a priority category (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).