Barn Owl
Tyto alba
UK Conservation Status: Green
lf you happen to be out in open farmland in the early morning or late evening, you may just spot a barn owl hunting over rough grassland. They are very striking as they have very pale feathers on the face and underbelly and their backs are exquisitely mottled with sandy brown and grey. It is thought that this colouring makes them less visible from below as they hunt for prey in the long grass. Their wings are large (a wingspan of 80-95cm) and their bodies are lightweight which means the owl can glide slowly above the grass and hover easily which helps them on the hunt for prey.
Their prey are mostly small mammals, mainly field voles, wood mice, and shrews. Sometimes, barn owls eat rats and small birds and even frogs.
Barn owls also have a very distinctive heart shaped face which enables them to capture and amplify tiny sounds that prey might be making. The sound is directed to the ears which are ten times more sensitive than a human’s. The ears are situated one higher than the other which gives the owl a further advantage as it helps pinpoint the location of prey. All of these adaptations make the barn owl a very effective stealth hunter.
Barn owls catch and kill their prey with their talons, rather than their beak, then eat the item whole, regurgitating (casting up through the beak) the indigestible parts in a pellet at a later time. These pellets contain bones, fur, etc and are often found at roosting sites. After feeding, producing a pellet takes 6 hours or more. After each night’s hunting, an owl regurgitates 1 or 2 pellets. Barn owl pellets are typically about the size of a man’s thumb and black when fresh. As they are mainly composed of hair and bone, they have virtually no smell. Pellets often contain the remains of 4 or 5 small mammals.
Barn owls are so called as they are partial to making their nests and roosting inside farm buildings where it is sheltered and dry. They do not like going out in the rain as their soft feathers are liable to get waterlogged, as they are not as oily as other bird’s.
The breeding season is between the months of March to August. The female will lay 4-6 eggs and the chicks usually hatch a month later. They are ready to fledge at about 2 months old.
Owl breeding success can fluctuate significantly in response to prey abundance; in 'good' small mammal years, large broods of six or more chicks can be raised, but when small mammal populations are low just one or two chicks may be reared.
While tawny owl populations have been seen to decline, the barn owl seems to be doing well especially in the past few years due to drier and milder winters (in 2015 it was moved from amber status to green status).
You can find out more about barn owls on the Barn Owl Trust website here.