Barn owl Facts
Barn owl Facts
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| Interesting Barn owl Facts: |
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| Barn owl can reach 13 to 15 inches in length and 10 to 19.4 ounces of weight. Females are slightly heavier than males. |
| Barn owl has white face, grey to brownish head, and white to yellowish-orange chest that can be pure or covered with dark spots. Males are usually lighter in color than females. |
| Barn owl has heart-shaped face with large, dark-colored eyes. It has flexible neck, long, broad wings and short, square-shaped tail. Legs are long and covered with feathers, while toes are equipped with sharp talons. |
| Barn owl has a wingspan of 31 to 37 inches and ability to fly at speed of 50 miles per hour. It has undulating flying pattern. |
| Barn owl is active during the night (nocturnal animal). |
| Barn owl has excellent eyesight and sense of hearing which facilitate detection of potential prey on the ground. |
| Barn owl is a carnivore. Its diet is based on voles, mice, shrews and young rats. Barn owl occasionally eats fish from the ponds. It swallows its prey in a single piece and then regurgitates undigested parts in the form of pellet. Barn owl is valuable on the farms because it keeps population of rodents under control. |
| Unlike other types of owls, barn owl doesn't hoot. It produces high-pitched, screeching noise and hisses loudly when it feels threatened. |
| Barn owl is not territorial. It lives on a territory of 5 hectares that usually overlaps with territories of the nearby barn owls. |
| Barn owl is solitary bird outside the breeding season. Mating season takes place all year round in the tropics and during the spring in temperate areas. |
| Barn owls can produce two broods per year, but they usually produce only one. Reproductive success depends on the amount of available food. |
| Barn owls form monogamous couples that last for a lifetime. |
| Female lays 2 to 7 eggs (4 on average) inside the barn or hollow tree during the spring. Incubation period lasts one months. Female is responsible for the incubation of eggs, while male provides food for female and their chicks. |
| Chicks in the nest often feed each other. This behavior is very rare and unusual for the birds. Young barn owls learn to fly at the age of 12 weeks. |
| Barn owl can survive 5 to 10 years in the wild. |
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