Habitat
Open rough grassland,
open countryside, low-land.
Range
Found on every continent
except Antarctica
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
class
Aves
order
Stringiformes
family
Tytonidae
genus
Tyto
species
T. alba
Diet
Mice, voles, lizards, small birds
Behaviour
Nocturnal
Life span in the wild
3 years
Life span in captivity
20+ years
We have 2 barn owls, Misty (female) and
The Professor (male), both are currently 'on
loan' with other breeders. Misty (pictured)
is 11 years old. The Professor was born in
2007. As barn owls are carnivores, we feed
them on dead mice and chicks which is very
similar to their natural diet in the wild.
Barn owls are magnificence, stealthy hunters. In the wild, they hunt small
animals. You might think that from high in the sky, it would be hard to find a
small field vole hiding in the undergrowth, but not for a barn owl.
They have extremely sensitive hearing. Their recognisable heart-shaped faces
help pick up noise and direct it to the ears. Their ears are shaped differently and
also placed asymmetrically (one ear sits higher than the other). Sounds arrive at
each ear at slightly different times; the owls can then automatically calculate
exactly where the noise is coming from. They also have highly sensitive
eyesight, so can see well in the dark and the low light of dusk.
Barn owls have an impressive wing span of
around 85 cms. Their soft, light feathers
mean they can swoop down almost silently
on their prey. They have long, powerful legs
and large, sharp talons, which allows them to
grab their prey from the undergrowth with
ease.
In the winter months, food is scarce. Barn
owls will cover an area of around 5 kms in
search of food. In the summer months, when
food is easily found, they hunt in an area
covering a 1 km radius.
?
w… t
o
n
k
o
you s do n ey
d
i
D
owl ead th
n
r
Ba
n s t hiss.
I
,
t
d
h o o i ek a n
r
sh
Owls tend to swallow their prey whole. When they eat small mammals such as
mice, usually eat them head first. This means that they swallow things that they
can not digest, such as the fur and bones of their prey. The indigestible food
collects in the stomach, where it forms into a pellet. Pellets are regurgitated,
which means they come up from the stomach and out of the owl’s beak. They are
normally black & the size of your thumb. Some people think that owl pellets look
like small animal feces. But unlike a poo, pellets don’t actually smell! So if you
think you have found one, give it a sniff! If it smells, put it down quickly & go
and wash your hands!