The Owl Who Liked Sitting on Caesar: Living with a Tawny Owl

Delightful memoir in breezy, casual style. The author, a military historian, has fashioned a narrative about his adopting an owl as a pet. He fails to raise Wellington, a Little Owl, but is very successful in raising Mumble, a female Tawny Owl. She comes to him as a weeks'-old fledgling and they bond from the first. Her life with the author is described and she has a definite personality. Her favorite perches are the lintel of a door and a bust of Germanicus, NOT Julius. She's a really intelligent bird and a "quick study". Losing then recovering her leads the author to give us facts on Tawnies: life in the wild, sharp senses, life cycle.

Some humorous and poignant episodes are related, e.g. Mumble in the author's den and her reaction to show more his typewriter WHILE he's typing. This made me chuckle. She reacts to guests, an "owl-sitter", a visit to farm of author's brother in Kent, other owls and pigeons she sees through the glass of his apartment window. The anatomy of a generic Tawny switching to Mumble then how she spends her day. The drawing of an owl skeleton is given on page 167: it's quite different from the fluffy, rotund bird that we see!

Their move to Sussex in the country stimulates Mumble more because of her outdoor aviary. The author describes her typical year from notes in his journal. The summertime moulting is the big event each year, also mood and psychological changes. Finally Mumble dies, after fifteen years--lifetime in the wild is maybe five. The author to this day has wonderful memories of their life together.

Fascinating book between this fun memoir and the frequent nuggets of information on the Tawny Owl. Line drawings and photos added another dimension. Highly recommended. show less

In his memoir, Martin Windrow said that it took 20 years for him to write about his beloved pet Tawny Owl, Mumble. As you read about their precious relationship you can understand why. He got Mumble as a baby, she was born captive and hand-raised, and she bonded to him as her “only” human. She sat on his shoulder, groomed his beard and kept him entertained with her owl behavior. Not that owning an owl is all fun and games, especially in his London apartment where he wasn’t supposed to have pets. Besides in England all raptors are a protected species and so there was a lot of paper work involved in getting Mumble. Also owls are carnivores, so you can’t just put out some seed and water and let them self feed; and then there is the show more problem of the back end after they eat: Martin’s apartment and other places Mumble frequented, was covered with plastic sheets, newspaper and anything else to cover the things he liked from owl droppings.

Well written, very entertaining, with just enough science to keep you educated in-between stories taken from his journals. I have had a few much loved birds grace my life so I know if you love our feathers friends you’ll enjoy this touching story. 5 stars. show less

I've always liked owls- by which I mainly just mean I've always thought that they are "cute", but I've never known that much about them, so this book was a fascinating read; beautifully written, informative, while also really touching and funny at times. I personally found the level of detail in some of the chapters describing Mumble's physical appearance and seasonal patterns of behaviour a little overwhelming, but overall it was a delightful book, with some lovely turns of phrase "one can take umbrage so much more convincingly when one has a lot of feathers" being one of my particular favourites! The illustrations and photographs are beautiful, and it was just a wonderfully quirky, intriguing read.

This is a lovely memoir of an Englishman's remembrances of his days living with a tawny owl he named Mumble. Heartwarming. There were a few paragraphs read lightly as I didn't need to delve as deep into the skeletal details of owls and statistics offered but it didn't deter my reading or appreciation for this charming book. It was shared by a friend that loves owls and anyone who has ever lived with an animal can appreciate some of the descriptions of quiet times shared together. Precious.

The sweet, well written story of Martin living with Mumble, a tawny owl, in England. He covers the history of this bird, it's anatomy and provides colorful stories of this birds personality and habits as he shares 15 years with Mumble. They lived in both the city of London in a 7th floor flat and out in a countryside home is Sussex. Very sweet! I enjoyed it thoroughly!

The best parts of this book revolve around Mr. Windrow's day to day experiences living with Mumble. His descriptions about her behavior and habits give the reader a clear picture of what it was like to have an owl as a pet. The chapters that detail more general info on tawny owls are less interesting. Overall a nice look back at the author's years with his owl.

Charming and informative, blending personal experience with biological and physical histories of owls. Windrow's voice throughout the book reflected his love and respect of owls in general and for Mumble in particular, and reading it felt like sharing a conversation with him about their relationship.