Barn Owl

Facts

IUCN LEAST CONCERN (LC)

Facts about this animal

The Barn Owl is a medium-sized owl with a wingspan of 100-125 cm and a size of 32-40 cm. The weight is 400-700 g. It has a white or mostly with underside, a heart-shaped, white face and golden-grey coloured upperparts. Females are larger than males and more spotted on the breast. The spots may signal to a potential mate the quality of the female.

Barn owls generally hunt small rodents, especially voles and mice, but they also eat young rabbits, bats, frogs, lizards, birds and insects.

Barn owls breed in buildings (barns!), in natural cavities, above or below ground, among rocks or in tree holes where they scrape shallow depression on nest floor or reuse old nest sites. There are 3-5 <strong>eggs</strong> in a clutch, which are incubated by the female while the male feeds her for about 31 days.

Did you know?
that barn owls are able to consume twice as much food as other owls in comparison to their weight? Farmers and ranchers are, therefore, increasingly attracted to the barn owl's ability to control rodents better than traps, poison, or cats.

Factsheet
Class	AVES
Order	STRIGIFORMES
Family	TYTONIDAE
Name (Scientific)	Tyto alba
Name (English)	Barn Owl
Name (French)	Chouette effraie
Name (German)	Schleiereule
Name (Spanish)	Lechuza común
Local names	Afrikaans: Nonnetjie-uil Czech: Sova pálená Danish: Slørugle Dutch: Kerkuil Finnish: Tornipöllö Hungarian: Gyöngybagoly Italian: Barbagianni Latvian; Lettish: Plivurpuce Polish: Plomykówka Portuguese: Coruja-das-torres Russian: Sipukha Swedish: Tornuggla
CITES Status	Appendix II
CMS Status	Not listed

Photo Copyright by
Matt Khoth

Distribution

Distribution
Range	Nearly a world-wide distribution
Habitat	Found in virtually all habitats but much more abundantly in open woodland, heaths and moors than forested country.
Wild population	Approx. 4'900'000 (2003)
Zoo population	646 reported to ISIS (2005)

In the Zoo

How this animal should be transported

Owls travel best in completely dark boxes. Boxes should be slightly longer than the head to tail length of the bird intended to travel, and wide and high enough for the bird to be able to stand or lie down in comfort without banging its shoulders or head. A well made wooden box with no perches is required, with carpet or some other non slip surface fixed on the floor and a padded ceiling, with air-holes on either side. The easiest type of door to use is an upward sliding door at one end. The door can then be slid up a small amount; the bird visualised before being grasped by the legs, carefully, through the small opening before sliding the door fully open for removal. A handle fixed to the top of the box makes carrying easier.

For air transport, Container Note 20 of the IATA Live Animals Regulations should be followed.

Find this animal on ZooLex

Photo Copyright by
Luc Viatour

Why do zoos keep this animal

Zoos very often receive injured barn owls and try to rehabilitate them. If this is not possible, the birds may stay in the collection. Barn owl are of interest for environmental education as they are a biological means of pest control, and in a few instances conservation breeding is practised with a view of restocking depleted wild populations.

How this animal should be kept

Pinioning or wing clipping is unacceptable for any of the owl species, which use flight as their main method of locomotion, so aviaries with enclosed tops are needed to prevent birds escaping. An aviary of at least 8 m² surface and a height of at least 3 m is required for a pair of medium-sized owls. The size should be increase by 3 m² for each additional adult. To ensure the birds have a feeling of security, at least one side (and better still two sides) of the aviary should be of a solid material. This also allows for keepers to approach for husbandry purposes without being seen by the birds. For the other sides, welded mesh appears to be the most suitable material, with a mesh area of 50mm x 50mm, but also nylon netting may be used. Chicken wire is an unsuitable material.

A public safety barrier should be built 1 m away from the enclosure fence to discourage visitors from putting fingers or foreign objects though wire mesh fronts.

Provision of enough high, horizontal or vertical, perches for each bird is essential; owls generally feel more secure on higher perches, especially above ‘people height’. Perches should be positioned so as to make maximum use of aviary space and encourage the birds to exercise. Wooden nest boxes and several areas providing shelter and protection from cold should be provided.

Owls should be fed once a day. The diet consists of freshly killed or freshly (but completely!) thawed rodents, quails and one day old chicks. The owls should have access to clean water for drinking at all times.