Barn Owl
Tyto alba
A pale, ghostly owl with a white heart-shaped face that hunts low over fields at dusk.
How to spot it
A medium owl about 33–39 cm, with a white heart-shaped facial disc, dark eyes and no ear tufts. It is golden-buff and grey above and white below, and looks strikingly pale in car headlights.
Where it lives
One of the most widespread land birds in the world, found on every continent except Antarctica, in open farmland, grassland, marsh edges and rough field margins.
What it eats
Mainly small rodents such as voles, mice and shrews, hunted on the wing and located by sound in near-total darkness.
Song & behaviour
It does not hoot — it makes an eerie, drawn-out shriek and various hisses. Its flight is almost silent, thanks to soft-fringed wing feathers, as it quarters low over the ground.
Nesting
It nests in barns, hollow trees, ruins and nest boxes rather than building a nest, laying its eggs on the bare surface or old debris.
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