Hear a story about the barn owl.
Hear a barn owl.
from The Birds of Texas
by John L. Tveten
The distinctive heart-shaped face of the barn owl gives it and other members of the Tytonidae Family the widespread name of "monkey-faced owl." The barn owl is one owl species that occurs throughout the world. It breeds across most of the United States and withdraws only from the northern edge of its range in winter. It is a year-round resident in virtually all of Texas, except for the higher mountains, and it nests primarily in hollow trees and cliff niches in areas devoid of human habitation.
Barn owls stand around 16 inches tall and have a large head, dark, immobile eyes and long legs with bristly feathers on the toes. The upperparts are rusty brown or golden buff, finely marked with tiny white spots and darker tracings. The underparts vary from white to cinnamon. At close range, the intricately patterned feathers are some of the most beautiful in all the avian world. Facial disks serve as parabolic reflectors and funnel sounds to ear openings hidden beneath the soft feathers. So acute is their hearing that barn owls can detect and capture prey by sound alone. Their sensitive eyes and ears, combined with silent flight and raking talons, make them superb nocturnal hunters.
The barn owl is far more tolerant of people than most other owls. It nests and roosts in farm buildings, garage lofts, church steeples, and even in industrial plants and factories within the boundaries of our largest cities. However, its human neighbors often remain unaware of the owl's presence because of its silent, nocturnal habits. It does not often call unless confronted near its nest, and then its cry of rage and warning is a raspy, hissing screech.
Barn owls are considered the most beneficial of all North American owls in terms of our own human interests. That's because their diet consists largely of rodents, and they consume enormous quantities of rats and mice.
