Barn Owl

Photo: Michael Todd

Barn Owl

Go Back

What do Barn Owls look like?

Known for their ghostly white appearance, barn owls are medium-sized owls with heart-shaped faces, long wings, hooked beaks and a smooth head. They have white faces and dark eyes, a grey-buff splotched back and white chests.

Where are Barn Owls found?

The Australian Barn Owl, Tyto alba, lives all across Australia. They may also pay the occasional visit to Tasmania.

Fast facts:

  1. Barn owls are the most widespread land bird on Earth as they live on every continent in the world except Antarctica.
  2. Barn owls hunt by listening from a fence post or other low perch. They’ll also fly low to the ground to see what they can spot. When they hear or see prey, they swoop onto the victim and swallow it whole.

Barn Owl

You may have seen an Australian Barn Owl as a ghostly white form flying past your headlights and heard a drawn-out rasping screech echoing through the night.

The Australian Barn Owl, Tyto alba, lives all across Australia.

Their calls vary from a breathy hiss to an unearthly shriek, and they will snap and clack their beaks during mating and threat displays. They sleep in well camouflaged spots during the day, so the rare call of the owl may be your only indication that one is living near you.

Barn owls like wooded areas and if you spot some pellets around that look a bit odd and cause a stink, they could be from an owl. Owls regurgitate pellets of the indigestible fur and bones of the creatures they eat. They’ll often do this near or inside their nest.

In southern Australia their chief prey is the house mouse. Barn owls will also eat other rodents, small marsupials, small birds, lizards, frogs, and night insects like beetles and moths.

Barn owls hunt by listening from a fence post or other low perch. They’ll also fly low to the ground to see what they can spot. When they hear or see prey, they swoop onto the victim and swallow it whole.

Owls are excellent hunters and can even catch prey in complete darkness. Their flight is completely soundless, so their prey doesn’t have a chance of escape.

Barn owls live alone or in pairs. They’re most active during the night as they are nocturnal. They roost quietly by day in unseen places like tree hollows, thickly foliaged trees, caves and rock crevices, buildings and even wells. They will also roost in hollow logs – so don’t clear these away.

When nesting in tree hollows, the entrance to their home will usually be about 15 to 25 m above the ground, even though the actual nest may be down 10m inside the tree. Owls will move to a new area if there aren’t enough rats or other sources of food around. They also don’t have a strict breeding season, but will mate and nest from autumn to spring whenever they have a good supply of food.

Tip

Don’t use rat poisons that cause secondary killings. Owls are natural predators of rodents but if an owl eats a rat that has ingested this poison, it can die too.

Did you know?

Barn owls are the most widespread land bird on Earth as they live on every continent in the world except Antarctica.

Print this page