“Barn Owl, Navigating the Darkest Night”

Ghostly pale in the shadows, Barn Owl’s success as a species is widespread globally for one reason: the ability to hunt in complete darkness. No other animal on earth is capable of this. In 2024, ornithologists split this owl into three taxonomic species—American, Eastern, and Western, based on all continental areas except Antarctica. Barn Owls thrive in the darkness that drives other creatures into hiding—they, quite literally, own the night. They are also one of a few species of owl with such a facial disc, belonging to the family Tytonidae. Barn owls are medium-sized with gray and cinnamon wings and bodies, buffy white chests, and pale faces with pitch-black eyes—an outward sign of their ability to hunt in complete darkness. Their raspy calls add to the eeriness of their presence. 

Most folks encounter Barn Owl during a night drive in open country, seeing a flash of white wings as they hunt in open grasslands. American Barn owls require large areas of open land over which to hunt. This can either be marsh, grasslands, or mixed agricultural fields. For nesting and roosting, they prefer quiet cavities, either in trees or man-made structures such as barns or silos—true to their name. 

They eat mostly small mammals, particularly rats, mice, voles, lemmings, and other rodents; also shrews, bats, and rabbits. Most of the prey they eat are active at night, so squirrels and chipmunks are relatively safe from these owls. They occasionally eat birds such as starlings, blackbirds, and meadowlarks. Nesting American Barn Owls sometimes store dozens of prey items at the nest site while incubating to feed the young once they hatch. A clutch can range from 2 to 18 eggs, with 1 to 3 broods! That’s a lot of hunting to do. 

American Barn Owls fly slowly over open fields at night or dusk with slow wingbeats and a looping, buoyant flight. They use their impressive hearing, aided by their satellite-dish-shaped faces, to locate mice and other rodents in the grass, often in complete darkness. These owls are usually monogamous and mate for life, although there are some reports of males with more than one mate. Though they fiercely defend their nest site, they don’t defend their hunting sites. 

Given they are nocturnal and so secretive, populations are hard to estimate. American Barn Owls are threatened by the conversion of agricultural land to urban and suburban development, and the loss of suitable nesting sites such as large, hollow trees and old buildings. Changes to agricultural fields and grasslands can also affect American Barn Owls through changes to their prey populations. American Barn Owls were affected by the use of DDT-related pesticides, and they may be susceptible to poisons used against rodents, since they form a large part of the owls’ diet. Because American Barn Owls hunt by flying low over fields, they are often hit by cars; planting hedgerows alongside roads can help prevent this from happening. Nest boxes (of the correct size) have helped American Barn Owl populations recover in areas where natural nest sites were scarce.

Sources: Audubon Society and Cornell Lab of Ornithology

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