There are two residential tawny owl pairs living where I can hear them frequently.
One of these pairs, according to my estimates, is an older pair, i.e., they must have established in their range at least two years ago.
They might also be older age-wise if we assume that most tawny owl pairs are philopatric and, thus, the year of their territorial establishment (as well as the establishment of pair bond in at least one of the mates) is the year following their fledgling (or close to it).
The newer/younger pair has settled in their territory only this winter (somewhere around the end of 2023/beginning of 2024) if I am correct because I did not use to hear them at all last year.
More precisely, I did not use to hear any tawny owls where they are currently residing.
There are some vocalization differences between these two pairs that I have noticed.
There are also similarities. The main similarity that I have found is that both males tend to return to the nest site when it is nearing the dawn and thence they perform a hooting session.
Also, during early winter (January, February) there was active hooting in both families as they flew through their respective territories probably ensuring their nesting claims.
However, apart from these behaviours, the pairs are quite different and I would like to note my observations because I am not certain whether the differences are due to the individuals’ unique personalities or due to more general patterns that are characteristic to most young owls/newly formed pairs/newly established residents vs. more experienced owls in their long-term territory.
In the new pair, both the female and male used to engage in extensive hooting sessions during late winter while perched in one spot.
Meanwhile, the older pair mostly hooted together while flying over their territory but not when perched.
This might have been prior to nesting site selection (because the new pair was not hooting in the spot where they apparently later nested).
It was definitely prior to egg-laying.
This could have been a part of courtship ritual/pair bonding and I have addressed other possible reasons in another post (Tawny owl observations (beginning of April) – vocalizations near nest).
Here I would also like to mention that, in this new pair, the female appears to hoot alongside the male every time they vocalize together and I have not yet heard her responding with the supposedly typical ‘kee-wick’.
Meanwhile, in the older pair, the female’s ‘kee-wick’ is heard far more often than the male’s hooting.
Thus, in the new pair, the male has thus far performed most of the vocalizing and when the female vocalizes, she hoots rather than uses the ‘more feminine’ ‘kee-wick’.
I wonder if this would have anything to do with mate guarding against predators or other such threats (the female in the new pair is not making herself conspicuous through indicating her own location which is more often in the nest) or perhaps, during the initial phases of their residency, they are attempting to trick any competitors into thinking there are two males defending the territory.
The latter hypothesis is faulty because tawny owl females are fierce warriors, perhaps fiercer than their smaller mates.
However, it might confuse potential foes with respect to the nest’s location and also these foes might come by impression that it is not wise intruding into these owls’ range in the first place because males, during this period, range more widely than females and the new pair might be trying to make an impression that their territory (not just the nest site) is impenetrable with a male always on watch.
This might also suggest that, during their first year together, the pair is led by the male who is altogether more vocal while, later on, the roles might change and the female might take charge (as in the older pair where she is very vocal and not attempting to speak ‘on the male’s terms’).
Perhaps, as a new couple, they are also less efficient at hearing one another out.
For example, if the male still has a hard time ‘keeping an ear’ on his mate, the female might not be able to solicit his attention with the comparatively quieter ‘kee-wicks’ and she might have to hoot at all might before the male learns how to focus, simultaneously, on hunting, defense and catering to his mate’s needs.
Additionally, the male of the new pair often vocalizes while hunting and flying over his range (also after the nest has been secured).
This might be another strategy of letting everyone know they are here and this is now their territory.
But I suspect that the hooting might be of assistance in hunting and territory navigation (both for the male and the female – see Tawny owl observations (beginning of April) – vocalizations near nest).
During a sudden drop in temperature, as the rodents and smaller birds became rather inactive, the male hooted almost all the time during his hunting flights.
Perhaps, as he hooted, some response was stirred up among the potential prey and as the prey reacted to the predator’s presence (e.g., by shuffling slightly or taking cover), the male might have been better able to find them.
The older male does not appear to perform any such acts.
Maybe he is already perfectly aware where and when to find prey while the younger male is still adjusting to his new home.
The new pair seems to be more vocal and, prior to the incubation period, they were also often together.
I cannot make comparisons regarding the shared activity proportion between the two pairs because I do not get to observe the older pair much.
However, I can say that the the new pair seems to enjoy spending time together and hooting together.
This might be a part of their courtship (a necessity to form an intense bond which is perhaps more lax in the older pair who already know how to cooperate and who are in no need of constant confirmation of the other’s location, intent etc. – they might be able to ‘sense the other’ without interacting as directly).
But I should also venture to state that the mates in this pair are very fond of one another.
There was once a ruckus caused by some roe deer and they both arrived to investigate hooting to each other softly while perched atop a tall tree (as if exchanging their opinions over what was happening below).
It will be interesting to see how their communication dynamics change in the following breeding season.
Notes by Ieva 