Tawny owls - carrion feeders too? (1 Viewer)

Will tawny owls eat roadkill/dead mice etc or do they only hunt live prey?

Ta.

I would assume they do. Just about all birds will eat carrion, it is after all easy protein that doesn't fight back.

Michael

Yes on a number of occasions i have witnessed our local tawny population eating roadkill close to the village late at night unfortunatly with grave consequences for at least one bird

Yup they sure will, easy meal.
bert.

Thanks chaps. It's just that I have a couple of frozen mice hanging around in the freezer - not appreciated by my other half, and I need to get rid of them. It's a toss up, the kite, the buzzard, or the tawny.

Hi
I think the best summary is that most owls are oppurtunist & take whatever is available, so answer would appear to be yes.

I know canibalism has occured in Tawny owl......gruesome... :eat:

SE.

Cheers Steve. I'll let you know which one gets to the mice first.

Hey Helen
Im putting my £ on the wise old Tarny wol.
SE.

PS. We're getting OUR own Kites this summer dont you know !!!

Interesting question Helen
You don't say whether wild or captive but I assume you mean wild as I can't imagine anyone feeding live mice to a captive owl. :h?:
Our Tawny, Hero, was captive bred and came to us by way of rescue when the owner could no longer keep the bird.
As far as we know Hero has never even seen a live mouse let alone catch and eat one yet that was exactly what he did last year.

I released a live field mouse ,caught by my cat, at the bottom of the garden and the mouse ran straight back into the aviary, whereapon without a seconds hesitation Hero dropped on it from his perch catching it in one pounce. (talk about out of the frying pan!)

It would appear that these versatile predators are opportunists quite happy to take whatever is available, hence their widespread success .I am sure wild Tawnys would take road kill but I have never actually seen one though I've seen lots of Buzzards on roadkill carcasses.Every winter down here in Somerset every ploughed field has a buzzard rooting for worms and grubs That was a surprize when I first saw it.

Sedentary Hero would happily eat four mice or three 1 day old chicks a day if I let him so it gives an idea of a Tawny's daily intake requirements.

I have flushed a tawny owl from a dead sheep on two occasions.

helenol said:

Thanks chaps. It's just that I have a couple of frozen mice hanging around in the freezer - not appreciated by my other half, and I need to get rid of them. It's a toss up, the kite, the buzzard, or the tawny.

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I'd love to store dead mice in my freezer but MY other half won't let me either.

What's wrong with them :h?: