Animal · United Kingdom, France, Germany
Barn owl
Tyto alba — the name this animal has in the language scientists everywhere share.
The barn owl is famous for its heart-shaped white face and silent flight, and it is one of the most widespread birds in the world. It nests in barns, church towers and tree hollows.
Picture credit: Steve Garvie (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Bernard DUPONT (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Nevit Dilmen (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where does the barn owl live?
Home: Farmland and open country on every continent except Antarctica.
In the wild you find it in: United Kingdom, France, Germany, United States, Australia, South Africa.
Conservation status from the IUCN: not in danger.
The short profile
Fully grown it measures 33–39 cm long, wingspan up to 95 cm. It weighs about 0.4 kilograms. On the menu: meat.
The story behind it
A barn owl hunts almost entirely by sound, using its heart-shaped face to funnel the faintest rustle of a mouse straight to its ears, which are set at slightly different heights on its head. This lets it pinpoint prey in total darkness with astonishing accuracy, even under snow. Soft, fringed feathers make its flight almost silent, so mice rarely hear it coming. A single barn owl family can eat more than a thousand rodents in a year, making it a valuable helper to farmers. Despite living on almost every continent, many local populations have declined as old barns and hollow trees, its favourite nest sites, disappear.
Find it on the globe
Barn owl is there as a tiny animated figure that breathes and looks around. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How does a barn owl hunt in the dark?
A barn owl hunts using its extremely sharp hearing rather than sight. Its heart-shaped face channels sound to its ears, which sit at slightly different heights, letting it locate a mouse's rustle precisely enough to catch it in complete darkness.
Why is a barn owl's flight silent?
Special soft, comb-edged feathers break up the air flowing over a barn owl's wings, removing the whooshing sound most birds make when they fly. This lets it swoop down on mice and voles without being heard.
Where do barn owls live?
Barn owls live on every continent except Antarctica, making them one of the most widespread birds on Earth. They favour farmland and open country, nesting in barns, church towers, tree hollows and cliff ledges.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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