12 Facts About Barn owl

Barn owl is the most widely distributed species of owl in the world and one of the most widespread of all species of birds, being found almost everywhere except for the polar and desert regions, Asia north of the Himalayas, most of Indonesia, and some Pacific Islands.

Barn owl is nocturnal over most of its range; but in Great Britain and some Pacific Islands, it hunts by day.

Barn owl was one of several species of bird first described in 1769 by the Tyrolean physician and naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in his Anni Historico-Naturales.

Barn owl is a medium-sized, pale-coloured owl with long wings and a short, squarish tail.

Barn owl is the most widespread landbird species in the world, occurring on every continent except Antarctica.

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The barn owl has been successfully introduced into the Hawaiian island of Kauai in an attempt to control rodents; distressingly, it has been found to feed on native birds.

On bird-rich islands, a barn owl might include birds as some fifteen to twenty percent of its diet, while in grassland it will gorge itself on swarming termites, or on Orthoptera such as Copiphorinae katydids, Jerusalem crickets, or true crickets .

Male Barn owl moults rather later in the year than the female, at a time when there is an abundance of food, the female has recommenced hunting, and the demands of the chicks are lessening.

Predators of the barn owl include large American opossums, the common raccoon, and similar carnivorous mammals, as well as eagles, larger hawks, and other owls.

Furthermore, the barn owl is likely the most numerous of all raptors, with the International Union for Conservation of Nature estimating, for all barn owl individuals, a population possibly as large as nearly 10 million individuals .

The barn owl accepts the provided nest boxes and sometimes prefers them to natural sites.

The upper bound of the number of barn owl pairs depends on the abundance of food at nesting sites.