Unidentified Owl

I keep sighting these 2 owls in a wood in north Leeds. The other day I was walking home through the wood at 22:00 when i saw one perched about 6ft above me on a branch making calls to another owl, not bothered at all by me. As its so dark and i'm looking up, all i can see is the silhouette so i take a video on my phone in which you can see it fly off at the end. Since then I've been trying to identify it by sound. Problem is it doesn't seem to match any of the owl calls i can find online. It sounds most like a little owl in pitch and it is repetitive in nature, but then all the recording I can find of the little owl just don't sound right. Little owls seem to sound a tiny bit like a cat but this doesn't. Is it just owls with regional ascents? any help identifying would be very welcomed, will post video and still bellow.

  • Hi kingjr,
    I sounds like the classic "keewick" call of a female Tawny Owl. The male will often respond with the "woohoo" call which I think you can hear right at the end of your clip.
    I can't make out any details from the photo but the size of the silhouette looks about right for a Tawny
  • Thanks for the reply. Yeah I think you are right. There was a second owl nearby making a similar noise and the 3rd (possibly male) far away that the owl on video flies towards. I always hear them when walking home at that time, but this is the first time I've seen one that close to me. Might wander down with a better camera than my phone sometime see what I can pick up. Was an amazing experience seeing them that close up.