The barn owl is found almost everywhere in the world except for the polar and desert regions, Asia north of the Himalayas, most of Indonesia, and some Pacific islands. There is a considerable variation between the sizes and colour of the approximately 28 subspecies, but most are between 33 and 39 cm in length. Barn owls specialise in hunting animals on the ground and nearly all of their food consists of small mammals which they locate by sound.
About Barn owl in brief
The barn owl is found almost everywhere in the world except for the polar and desert regions, Asia north of the Himalayas, most of Indonesia, and some Pacific islands. There is a considerable variation between the sizes and colour of the approximately 28 subspecies, but most are between 33 and 39 cm in length. Barn owls specialise in hunting animals on the ground and nearly all of their food consists of small mammals which they locate by sound. They usually mate for life unless one of the pair is killed, when a new pair bond may be formed. Breeding takes place at varying times of year according to the locality, with a clutch, averaging about four eggs, being laid in a nest in a hollow tree, old building or fissure in a cliff. The bird is known by many common names which refer to its appearance, call, habitat, or its eerie, silent flight: white owl, silver owl, demon owl, ghost owl, death owl, night owl, rat owl, church owl, stone owl, monkey-faced owl, hissing owl, hobgoblin or hobby owl. It is considered to be of least conservation concern. Some subspecies with restricted ranges are more threatened. The barn owl was one of several species of bird first described in 1769 by the Tyrolean physician and naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in his Anni Historico-Naturales. He gave it the scientific name Strix alba.
The name literally means ‘white owl’ from the onomatopoeic Ancient Greek tyto for an owl – compare English ‘hooter’ – and Latin alba, ‘white’ The face is characteristically heart-shaped and is white in most subspecies. The owl does not hoot, but utters an eerie, drawn-out screech. When large numbers of small prey are readily available, barn owl populations can expand rapidly, and globally the bird is considered a nocturnal hunting species. Some taxonomic authorities further split the group, recognising up to five species, and further research needs to be done to clarify the position. They proposed that T. delicatula should be split off as a separate species, which would include the eastern barn owl, the Curaçao barn owl and the American barn owl. Based on DNA evidence, König, Becking & Becking recognised the American owl as the barn owl and the Curoça barn owl as separate species. They also proposed that the T. delicatula owl should be separate as a separate species, but should be known as T. alba alba and by some time included in the genus Megascops. It was included in some time for some time in T. Deliascops, but by some authors still are still to be recognised as the eastern T deliascopula owl and by other authors as the T. Delia.
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This page is based on the article Barn owl published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 02, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
