Barn Owl Facts

The barn owl is a much-loved countryside bird that people are familiar with, owing to its wide distribution. It is one of the most widely distributed birds in the world. The beautiful barn owl has a distinctive appearance with a white heart-shaped face with no ear tufts and sharp black eyes. Contributing to its striking appearance, is the rich apricot plumage covering its head, back and outer wings. However, coloring may differ slightly between the 46 different races of this species known worldwide. One of the many interesting barn owl facts is that unlike other owls that 'hoot', the sound that it makes can be described more as a hiss or a snort.

Information and Fact File

• The sizes of barn owls differ. On an average, they are between 12.6'' to 15.7'' in length, have a wingspan of 39.4'' to 49.2'' and may weigh between 14.1 to 24.7 oz. The barn owls found in North American are the largest, weighing more than twice as much as the race from the Galapagos Islands, which is the smallest. When seen in flight, it gives the impression of a large white bird.
• It has plumage ranging from shades of yellow, apricot to rich brown, and is freckled with dark specks. It has long, feathered legs and a short squarish tail. The large black eyes of barn owls look forward in a fixed position and cannot move to the side. Consequently, it has to turn its head to see to the side or back.
• The female barn owl has a more reddish chest and is usually more spotted on the breast than the male. These spots are an indicator to the males of the quality of the female. Females that are more heavily spotted get fewer parasitic flies and may be more resistant to parasites and diseases.
• It is referred to by many different names including golden owl, white owl, monkey-faced owl, silver owl, demon owl, ghost owl, death owl, night owl, rat owl, church owl, cave owl, stone owl, hissing owl, hobgoblin or hobby owl, dobby owl, golden owl, scritch owl, screech owl, straw owl, barnyard owl and delicate owl.
• Barn owls are nocturnal, and usually wait until dark to hunt. However, they may venture out at other times when they need to feed their offspring. During the day the usually retire to some shadowed or enclosed area in an old building, or rest in the hollow of a tree or a hole in a rocky cliff.
• In the wild, barn owls feed on mice, voles and shrews, but may capture small birds when these are scarce. It makes almost no sound when in flight, and sweeps down to catch prey off guard in its long, slender talons.
• It has a very good low-light vision, which enables it to easily spot prey at night by sight. However, its hearing abilities are par excellence. It has the best ability to locate prey by sound alone, of all the animals that have ever been tested. It can catch mice in complete darkness in the lab, or hidden by vegetation or snow out in the real world.
• Female barn owls lay about 5 to 7 white, spotless eggs during one cycle, and it takes from 32 to 34 days for the first egg to hatch. The offspring are called "owlets", and are swaddled in snow-white down for 6 days. This is gradually replaced by a buff-colored down which develops into a thick, woolly covering that is still in evidence for about 50 days.

Barn owls are fascinating creatures, and there is always more, that a person can learn about them. As a fact these creatures are associated with omens, witchcraft and death.