The Barn Owl
Posted: Tuesday, January 05, 2010
by Carolyn Tytler
The barn owl is a raptor, that is, a bird of prey like eagles, hawks and falcons. Raptors are carnivores or meat-eaters. They hunt and kill smaller animals for food. They have strong talons for grasping, killing and carrying off their victims, and a hooked upper beak for tearing the meat apart before they consume it.
The barn owl usually hunts at night although he may also be active at dusk and dawn. Thanks to its sharp eyes and keen sense of hearing, it can locate and catch a rodent in total darkness just as easily as in full daylight.
Barn owls are one of the most wide-spread of all land birds. They can be found on every continent in the world except Antarctica. Their northern limit is determined only by extremely cold winter weather, as in Northern Canada, and the scarcity of food.
Name Derivation
The scientific name for the barn owl is tyto alba. The Greek word tyto means owl, and alba is the Latin word for white. The common name, "barn owl" refers to the owl's fondness for nesting in man-made structures like barns, church steeples and chimneys. This bird is also known as the Monkey-faced Owl, White Owl, Ghost Owl, and Night Owl.
Appearance
The Barn Owl is a pale, long-winged, long-legged owl with a short squarish tail. It's body is the size of a small cat, about 17 inches long and it weighs about a pound. The wing span is about 3 1/2 feet. Its coloring is pale, mostly white, buff, and yellow with tawny shading.
Its face is notable. It is shaped like a heart-shaped white disc and edged with tan feathers. The owl's small black eyes are fixed in a forward position. To look to the side or back, the bird must turn its whole head. It has no ear tufts, although its sense of hearing is extremely keen.
It doesn't hoot like many owls, but has a distinctive "Scree-scree" cry.
Habitat
These owls prefer to hunt in open lowlands with only a few trees. They like farms, plantations, marshes and scrub lands. If there are no buildings in the area, they will roost by day in caves, thick foliage or tree hollows.
Diet
Barn owls eat field mice, rats, gophers, bats, frogs, lizards, toads, baby rabbits, small birds and insects. They will cruise overhead or perch motionless on a tree branch until they spot prey, then swoop swiftly and silently down, grab their victim and carry it off. They will tear the prey apart, then swallow everything: skin, bones, claws, beak and all. They will later bring up the indigestible parts in pellets which they scatter around the roost or nest.
Breeding
Barn owls mate for life. They breed at any time of year, depending on the food supply. In years of plenty they may have two sets of offspring. The female will lay from 5 to 7 white eggs at two-day intervals. In 30 to 34 days, baby owlets, covered in white down, emerge from the eggs. In 50 to 55 days they are ready to leave the nest and start life on their own. They are able to breed around ten months of age.
Enemies
Cats, raccoons and other raptors may attack and kill young birds. At any age, barn owls may be destroyed by illegal hunting. Sometimes they die from electrocution when their talons become entangled in power lines.
When a barn owl is attacked. it will roll onto its back and fight with its strong talons.
Life Expectancy
About 50% of barn owls die in their first year of life. The average life expectancy of a barn owl living in the wild is one to two years, although some have been reported to exceed this norm.
Benefits for Humans
Barn owls are very beneficial to farmers. They prey on small rodents which destroy crops. One barn owl can eat up to 3000 rodents a year. They can also hunt through all types of vegetation and in the snow.
Because of these useful raptors, there is less necessity for farmers to use dangerous pesticides and people can enjoy an increased volume of appetizing and healthful fruits and vegetables from agricultural lands.
Barn owls are helpful to homeowners who might experience infestations of rats or other vermin without their help.
Barn owls eat insects such as flies, mosquitoes and spiders which can be annoying and may carry harmful bacteria.
These are only a few of the benefits we enjoy from having these beautiful raptors in our environment.
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)What a nice, informative article. Thanks for writing it.
the barn owl is not the official bird of Alberta, it has only been seen in the province 2 or 3 times, the great horned owl is the official bird of Alberta.
Thank you, Bob. You're absolutely right. I can't remember where I found the incorrect info, but I'm changing it immediately. Thank you again.
No worries Carolyn, glad to be of help.
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