Barn Owl Facts

It’s a cold cold day. You are lost in the woods. The woods are dark and deep. Every step you take makes it look like you are all that more lost. You are at the edge of your sanity, what with the eerie silence of the woods piercing your ears. As you make your disconcerted way through the woods, you suddenly find a clearing and from the corner of your eye you notice a barn. You rush to the barn and open the not-so-resistant door. Lo and behold what seems liked a winged menace flies right across your shoulder and into the great beyond. What is this ‘winged menace’ and does it even belong to planet earth? Well, if it’s an owl and if it’s in a barn, you can almost take it for granted that it’s a ‘Barn Owl’. Now that the prologue for the barn owl is down with, it’s time to throw a few rays of light on the life of this fascinating creature.

Interesting Facts About Barn Owl 

• Unlike most other owls, barn owls are easily identifiable. This is mostly because of their heart shaped faces. Most other owls have round faces and are hard to differentiate from each other, but with their heart shaped faces it doesn’t take a genius to identify a barn owl. Barn owls have a distinct middle claw that is serrated onto their feet.
• Barn owls are mostly only light brown in color and as far as height goes can only grow to a maximum of twenty two inches. However, barn owls boast of a wing span of forty five inches.
• Contrary to popular belief, barn owls don’t just depend on their eyes to prey on innocent mice that they are known to have an unusual fondness for. One ear of the barn owl is slightly higher than the other one. This is not a mistake of a Mother Nature, but rather a blessing in disguise. This difference in height offers the barn owl a three dimensional radar system which helps it locate prey or any other thing that much more easily.
• The barn owl when in the wild is known to prey on mice, shrews and voles. However, in rare occasions, barn owls are also known to prey on small birds. How these birds hunt for prey makes for one of the nicest wonders of nature. The barn owl almost noiselessly sweeps down to catch its hardly aware prey and make a wholesome meal out of it.
• The barn owl is not just known as the barn owl. The owl also goes by many different names which include the ‘white owl’, ‘monkey-faced owl’, ‘silver owl’, ‘demon owl’, ‘church owl’, ‘hobby owl’, ‘golden owl’, ‘straw owl’, ‘delicate owl’, ‘hissing owl’ and ‘barnyard owl’.
• Out of all the animals and birds that hunt at night, the barn owl is known to be the most successful. Maybe this has something to do with the barn owls gifted sight and earring. It is a known fact that the barn owl is extremely adept at catching mice in no-light situations or even prey hidden by vegetation and snow.
• Barn owls are nocturnal, that’s something you probably already know. However, barn owls, if they really have to, will also fly out during the day. They however are most comfortable resting in old abandoned buildings, hollows of trees or rocky cliffs during the day.
• Unlike other species, the female barn owl is more colorful than the male barn owl. The female barn owl has a slightly red chest and has more spots on its breast than the male barn owl.
• The barn owl, in spite of being such a good hunter, has to deal with one big disadvantage. Its large black eyes cannot move to the side, it literally has to turn its head from side to side or even behind to get an extensive view of its surroundings.