Common Barn Owl
It is delicately freckled with dark specks and the blending of colors in day light has led some to call it the golden owl other common names are for it are the white owl and monkey faced owl the barn owl s face is arresting.
Common barn owl. The tytoninae or tyto owls including the common barn owl and the phodilinae or bay owls. They sleep during the day and are active at night they re stealthy hunters and have extremely acute hearing. Ghostly pale and normally strictly nocturnal barn owls are silent predators of the night world.
You can find them by listening for their eerie raspy calls quite unlike the hoots of other owls. The western barn owl is a medium sized owl with no ear tufts and a heart shaped face. The barn owls consist of two extant subfamilies.
Barn owls eat small mammals that are active at night including mice rabbits and voles. They will eat songbirds if given the chance. It is also known as the common barn owl to distinguish it from the other species in its family tytonidae which forms one of the two main lineages of living owls the other being the typical owls strigidae.
Barn owl species numbers are declining in some areas because of habitat loss. The species name alba refers to the colour white other names for the barn owl have included monkey faced owl ghost owl and church owl. There are no ear tufts.
Barn owls do not hoot like other owls instead they vocalize with a shrill rasping hiss or snore. Barn owls are common yet fascinating creatures. Barn owls weigh 1 2 pounds.
Lanky with a whitish face chest and belly and buffy upperparts this owl roosts in hidden quiet places during the day. Common barn owl tyto alba minas de são domingos mértola portugal 23 47 13 april 2013 courtship flight of a pair. Western barn owl tyto alba introduction.
The barn owl family tytonidae is one of two main lineages of living owls the other being the typical owls it is known by many other names in different parts of the world which is one of the problems with common names. Here the barn owls are a subfamily tytoninae this is unsupported by more recent research see cypselomorphae but the relationships of the owls in. The barn owl tyto alba is the most widely distributed species of owl in the world and one of the most widespread of all species of birds.
The barn owl is primarily white with buff yellow and tawny shadings. The common barn owl is tyto alba a species of owl in the genus tyto it is the most widely distributed species of owl and one of the most widespread of all birds. They stand apart from other owls and birds of prey and deserve a closer examination.
Barn owls are slim medium sized owls measuring 14 20 inches long with a wingspan of 43 47 inches. By night they hunt on buoyant wingbeats in open fields and meadows. The sibley ahlquist taxonomy unites the caprimulgiformes with the owl order.
