Barn Owl

Ghostly pale and strictly nocturnal, Barn Owls are silent predators of the night world. Lanky, with a whitish face, chest, and belly, and buffy upperparts, this owl roosts in hidden, quiet places during the day. By night, they hunt on buoyant wingbeats in open fields and meadows. You can find them by listening for their eerie, raspy calls, quite unlike the hoots of other owls. Despite a worldwide distribution, Barn Owls are declining in parts of their range due to habitat loss. Barn Owls swallow their prey whole—skin, bones, and all. About twice a day, they cough up pellets instead of passing all that material through their digestive tracts. The pellets make a great record of what the owls have eaten, and scientists study them to learn more about the owls and the ecosystems they live in. Up to 46 different races of the Barn Owl have been described worldwide. The North American form is the largest, weighing more than twice as much as the smallest race from the Galapagos Islands. Barn Owl females are somewhat showier than males. She has a more reddish and more heavily spotted chest. The spots may indicate the quality of the female. Heavily spotted females get fewer parasitic flies and may be more resistant to parasites and diseases. The spots may also stimulate the male to help more at the nest. In an experiment where some females’ spots were removed, their mates fed their nestlings less often than for females whose spots were left alone. The Barn Owl has excellent low-light vision, and can easily find prey at night by sight. But its ability to locate prey by sound alone is the best of any animal that has ever been tested. It can catch mice in complete darkness in the lab, or hidden by vegetation or snow out in the real world. The oldest known North American Barn Owl lived in Ohio and was at least 15 years, 5 months old.

A medium-sized (14-20 inches) owl, the Barn Owl is most easily identified by its tan head and body, pale breast, triangular facial disk (most owl species have round faces) and brown eyes. Part of a small group of owls mostly found in Australasia, this species is unlikely to be confused with owl species outside of its own family. Male and female Barn Owls are similar to one another in all seasons. Barn Owls occur across much of the globe. In the New World, this species occurs from extreme southern Canada and the northern United States south to the southern tip of South America, including the islands in the Caribbean. In the Old World, this species occurs in most of Europe, Africa, South Asia, and Australia. Barn Owls inhabit an enormous variety of open and semi-open habitats across this species’ wide range. These habitats include forest edges, grassland, scrub, meadows, agricultural fields, and even urban and suburban areas. Barn Owls eat a variety of small animals, primarily rodents (including mice, voles, and shrews). Like most owls, Barn Owls hunt at night, listening for movement in the undergrowth with their superb hearing and swooping down to capture prey. Birdwatchers may watch for this species at dawn or dusk, and may listen for this species’ grating “kschh” call. Barn Owls are primarily active at night.