The Barn Owl is nearly cosmopolitan and is considered the most widely distributed land bird in the world. It prefers dry areas and has a low tolerance for cold climates such as those characteristic of northern Canada, Scandinavia, Russia, Antarctica, Siberia, and high altitude countries. Surprisingly it is absent from New Zealand as well.
It is a medium-sized, nocturnal owl of open country including fields, farmlands, and grasslands. It has a large head without ear tufts and a heart-shaped, triangular, or sometimes rounded facial disk. The eyes are blackish. The unusually long bill is yellow-ivory colored. Its legs are long and skinny, nearly three inches in length, and feathered. Sexes are similar, but in some areas of North America females may be slightly darker and more spotted than males. Plumage, however, is very variable.
It sits erect and appears to have rather long wings in flight.
Size
The Barn Owl is a medium-sized owl that ranks sixth in over-all size. Females are larger and heavier than males. The total length of females ranges between 13.4 and 15.7 inches (34 to 40 centimeters) and males 12.6 and 15.0 inches (32 to 38 centimeters). Females weigh about 20 ounces (570 grams) while males average 16.5 ounces (470 grams). It has the fourth largest wingspan among North American owls; females average about 43 inches (110 centimeters) while males are slightly smaller at 42 inches (107 centimeters).
Specific Description
Adult (white phase)
- refer to above
- upperparts golden-brown
- underparts white speckled with dark flecks
- face white or light
Adult (orange phase)
- refer to above
- very little white in plumage
- upperparts orange-ochraceous
- underparts light to dark ochraceous buff
- face "dirty" as though tinged with buff-brown
Similar Species
The Barn Owl is likely to be confused only with other light colored owls, including the Snowy Owl, which is larger and has an indistinct rounded facial disk and yellow eyes, and the juvenile Great Horned Owl, which is all gray-white.
Other Names
It is also known as the Monkey-faced Owl, Citrus Owl, Golden Owl, Church Owl, Rat Owl, Steeple Owl, Stone Owl, White Owl, Orange Owl, American Barn Owl, and Queen-of-the-Night.
Etymology
The scientific name Tyto alba translates into "a species of white owl."
Mythology
Folk-lore surrounding the Barn Owl is better recorded than for most other owls. The species has been associated with wisdom, death, witchcraft, doom, evil, superstitions, and joy.
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the poets Robert Blair and William Wordsworth used the Barn Owl as their favorite "bird of doom." During that same period many people believed that the screech or call of an owl flying past the window of a sick person meant imminent death. The Barn Owl has also been used to predict the weather by people in England. A screeching owl meant cold weather or a storm was coming. If heard during foul weather a change in the weather was at hand.
In early Rome a dead owl nailed to the door of a house averted all evil that it supposedly had earlier caused. The death of Julius Caesar was apparently predicted by an owl. In English literature the Barn Owl had a sinister reputation probably because it was a bird of darkness, and darkness was always associated with death.
