The tawny owl's underparts are pale with dark streaks, whilst its upper body may be either brown or grey (in several subspecies, individuals may be of both colours).

The tawny owl typically makes its nest in a tree hole where it can protect its eggs and young against potential predators.

Its directional hearing skill is more important to its hunting success: its ears are asymmetrically placed, which enables it to more precisely pinpoint the location from which a sound originates.

[6][7] Its large rounded head lacks ear tufts, and the facial disc surrounding the dark brown eyes is usually rather plain.

[12] As with most owls, its flight is silent because of its feathers' soft, furry upper surfaces and a fringe on the leading edge of the outer primaries.

A passage through the skull links the eardrums, and small differences in the time of arrival of a sound at each ear enables its source to be pinpointed.

[14] Both ear openings are hidden under the facial disk feathers, which are structurally specialized to be transparent to sound, and are supported by a movable fold of skin (the pre-aural flap).

[18] The internal structure of the ear, which has large numbers of auditory neurons, gives an improved ability to detect low-frequency sounds at a distance, which could include rustling made by prey moving in vegetation.

William Shakespeare used this owl's song in Love's Labour's Lost (Act 5, Scene 2) as "Then nightly sings the staring owl, Tu-whit; Tu-who, a merry note, While greasy Joan doth keel the pot", but this stereotypical call is actually a duet, with the female making the kew-wick sound, and the male responding hooo.

[8] The call is easily imitated by blowing into cupped hands through slightly parted thumbs, and a study in Cambridgeshire found that this mimicry produced a response from the owl within 30 minutes in 94% of trials.

The Siberian and Scandinavian subspecies are 12% larger and 40% heavier, and have 13% longer wings than western European birds,[18] in accordance with Bergmann's rule which predicts that northern forms will typically be bigger than their southern counterparts.

[22] The plumage colour is genetically controlled, and studies in Finland and Italy indicate that grey-morph tawny owls have more reproductive success, better immune resistance, and fewer parasites than brown birds.

[27] The tawny owl is non-migratory and has a distribution stretching discontinuously across temperate Europe, from Great Britain and the Iberian Peninsula eastwards to western Siberia.

It is absent from Ireland - probably because of competition from the long-eared owl (Asio otus) - and only a rare vagrant to the Balearic and Canary Islands.

This owl is not believed to meet the IUCN Red List criterion of declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations and is therefore evaluated as being of least concern.

The owl's home range is determined in early autumn, and the territory is defended throughout the winter and into spring when the breeding season begins.

[11] This species is fearless in defence of its nest and young, and, like other Strix owls, strikes for the intruder's head with its sharp talons.

[32] The parents care for young birds for two or three months after they fledge, but from August to November the juveniles disperse to find a territory of their own to occupy.

This species takes a wide range of prey, mainly woodland rodents, but also other mammals up to the size of a young rabbit, and birds, earthworms and beetles.

In urban areas, birds make up a larger proportion of the diet, and species as unlikely as mallard and kittiwake have been killed and eaten.

[18] The tawny owl, like its relatives, has often been seen as an omen of bad luck; William Shakespeare used it as such in Julius Caesar (Act 1 Scene 3): "And yesterday the bird of night did sit/ Even at noon-day upon the market-place/ Hooting and shrieking."

[36] And there, with fingers interwoven, both hands Pressed closely palm to palm and to his mouth Uplifted, he, as through an instrument, Blew mimic hootings to the silent owls, That they might answer him.—And they would shout Across the watery vale, and shout again, Responsive to his call,—with quivering peals, And long halloos, and screams, and echoes loud Redoubled and redoubled; concourse wild Of jocund din!