Barn Owl, Tyto alba

Barn Owl, Tyto alba. Photographs courtesy of Dr. Tom Bartol, Carlsbad, California, February 2019.

Barn Owl, Tyto alba guatemalae. Bird photographed within Parque Nacional Cañón del Sumidero, Chiapas, March 2021. Photograph and identification courtesy of Marina Sutormina, Stockholm, Sweden.

Background and Identification

The Barn Owl, Tyto alba, is a member of the Tytonidae Family of Barn Owls. They are nighttime predators that have exceptional eyesight and hearing and prey upon mice and rats. They take shelter during daylight hours. They are known for their rasping shrieks. Barn Owls can be easily identified by their heart-shaped facial ruff. A facial ruff is a disc of hair on the face. The heart shape is usually white or dark brown, framed by darker brown feathers. In Mexico, they are known as Lechuza de Campanario.

Barn Owls are a medium-sized owl. They have a total length that varies from 29 cm (11 inches) to 44 cm (17 inches) and their masses (males and females) range drastically depending on where they live. This species has a pale, almost ghostly appearance, as its plumage is white, light brown, and light grey. Their underparts are typically white or light buff with some spotting, while the back and wings are a mix of buff and grey with fine speckling. Barn Owls have long, rounded wings and a short tail, both aid in their ability to fly nearly silently. They have very large eyes and exceptional hearing. Both of these characteristics make them proficient nocturnal hunters, primarily feeding on small mammals such as mice, rats, and moles.

Habitat and Geographical Range

Barn Owls are highly adaptable and can be found in a wide variety of habitats. These include grasslands, farmlands, woodlands, deserts, and suburban areas. Open areas are favored because hunting for prey in these areas is easier. This species often nests in barns, abandoned buildings, tree cavities, and other sheltered locations, which is one of the main factors as to why they tend to settle in more suburban areas. They are found in barns, cliffs, farms, groves, towns, and woodlands in open or semi-open country lowlands.

Geographically, the Barn Owl has one of the widest distributions of any bird species. They are found on every continent except Antarctica. In North America, their range extends from southern Canada through the United States and Mexico, down into Central and South America.

Common Misidentifications

There are no similar-looking owls that occupy the same geographic range as the Barn Owl. The only species that could potentially be mistaken for the Barn Owl is the Ashy-faced Owl, Tyto glaucops, which is only found on the Island of Hispaniola. Some individuals have reported identifications of Barn Owls based on the sightings of downy juvenile individuals of other owl species, such as the Great-Horned Owl, Bubo virginianus. These owls are majority-white, lack evident ear tufts, and give hoarse rasping calls.

Conservation Status

From a conservation perspective, the Barn Owl is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations.