Field Guide : American Barn Owl
Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.
This color column has a dark background because the barn owl is almost exclusively a nocturnal or crepuscular predator – crepuscular means twilight – but they will, on occasion, hunt during the day.
I sometimes bemoan the fact that schoolchildren are usually taught that all owl species have asymmetrically placed ears, a physiology that provides a hunting advantage. In fact, this ear asymmetry occurs in only some owl species, but I’m pleased to report that the barn owl is one of them! Their left ear is located higher on the head than their right one. Although this asymmetry is subtle, mostly just affecting the soft tissue of the ear opening and the outer ear canal, the difference is enough to make the barn owl’s ability to locate prey by sound one of the most accurate of any animal tested to date. Couple that super-hearing with its excellent low-light vision and near-silent flight (thanks to specialized feather structures that minimize noise during movement) and we have an incredibly impressive and fearsome nocturnal hunter.
Despite being one of our most common owls as well as a species that thrives in and around human settlement, the barn owl’s secretive nature means it isn’t commonly encountered by us. In fact, even with all the time I spend outdoors, I’ve only seen a few in the wild. My most recent encounter was particularly special. Shortly after dawn, making my way through oak woodland at Pepperwood Preserve, I noticed a flash of white in my peripheral vision. I turned my head in time to see a barn owl flying directly at me, low, about eight feet above the ground. The large bird veered to its left and silently flapped away through the oak boughs. I heard nothing.
Not that barn owls are always quiet. They produce a range of vocalizations, but the species is best known for its “scream” call. To my ear, this startling sound is a cross between car tires squealing over pavement, a woman shrieking, and a stressed house cat’s yowl, but raspy, as if filtered through the texture of rough sandpaper. Most people would n’t recognize the sounds as that of an owl.
Until last year (2024), all of the world’s barn owls were one species, Tyto alba, found on every continent except Antarctica. Based on molecular phylogenetic studies, that cosmopolitan species was split into three. Our American bird was rebranded as Tyto furcata, and its range is restricted to the Americas, both North and South. The Eastern Barn Owl (Tyto javanica) is found from South Asia to Australia and the Western Barn Owl (which retained Tyto alba) lives in Europe, Africa, and western Asia. This color column is based on our North American subspecies, Tyto furcata pratincola, that lives through North America.
Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).
Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.
Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.
This color column has a dark background because the barn owl is almost exclusively a nocturnal or crepuscular predator – crepuscular means twilight – but they will, on occasion, hunt during the day.
I sometimes bemoan the fact that schoolchildren are usually taught that all owl species have asymmetrically placed ears, a physiology that provides a hunting advantage. In fact, this ear asymmetry occurs in only some owl species, but I’m pleased to report that the barn owl is one of them! Their left ear is located higher on the head than their right one. Although this asymmetry is subtle, mostly just affecting the soft tissue of the ear opening and the outer ear canal, the difference is enough to make the barn owl’s ability to locate prey by sound one of the most accurate of any animal tested to date. Couple that super-hearing with its excellent low-light vision and near-silent flight (thanks to specialized feather structures that minimize noise during movement) and we have an incredibly impressive and fearsome nocturnal hunter.
Despite being one of our most common owls as well as a species that thrives in and around human settlement, the barn owl’s secretive nature means it isn’t commonly encountered by us. In fact, even with all the time I spend outdoors, I’ve only seen a few in the wild. My most recent encounter was particularly special. Shortly after dawn, making my way through oak woodland at Pepperwood Preserve, I noticed a flash of white in my peripheral vision. I turned my head in time to see a barn owl flying directly at me, low, about eight feet above the ground. The large bird veered to its left and silently flapped away through the oak boughs. I heard nothing.
Not that barn owls are always quiet. They produce a range of vocalizations, but the species is best known for its “scream” call. To my ear, this startling sound is a cross between car tires squealing over pavement, a woman shrieking, and a stressed house cat’s yowl, but raspy, as if filtered through the texture of rough sandpaper. Most people would n’t recognize the sounds as that of an owl.
Until last year (2024), all of the world’s barn owls were one species, Tyto alba, found on every continent except Antarctica. Based on molecular phylogenetic studies, that cosmopolitan species was split into three. Our American bird was rebranded as Tyto furcata, and its range is restricted to the Americas, both North and South. The Eastern Barn Owl (Tyto javanica) is found from South Asia to Australia and the Western Barn Owl (which retained Tyto alba) lives in Europe, Africa, and western Asia. This color column is based on our North American subspecies, Tyto furcata pratincola, that lives through North America.
Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).
Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.
Unlimited edition. 18 x 24 inch, museum-quality poster on matte paper.
This color column has a dark background because the barn owl is almost exclusively a nocturnal or crepuscular predator – crepuscular means twilight – but they will, on occasion, hunt during the day.
I sometimes bemoan the fact that schoolchildren are usually taught that all owl species have asymmetrically placed ears, a physiology that provides a hunting advantage. In fact, this ear asymmetry occurs in only some owl species, but I’m pleased to report that the barn owl is one of them! Their left ear is located higher on the head than their right one. Although this asymmetry is subtle, mostly just affecting the soft tissue of the ear opening and the outer ear canal, the difference is enough to make the barn owl’s ability to locate prey by sound one of the most accurate of any animal tested to date. Couple that super-hearing with its excellent low-light vision and near-silent flight (thanks to specialized feather structures that minimize noise during movement) and we have an incredibly impressive and fearsome nocturnal hunter.
Despite being one of our most common owls as well as a species that thrives in and around human settlement, the barn owl’s secretive nature means it isn’t commonly encountered by us. In fact, even with all the time I spend outdoors, I’ve only seen a few in the wild. My most recent encounter was particularly special. Shortly after dawn, making my way through oak woodland at Pepperwood Preserve, I noticed a flash of white in my peripheral vision. I turned my head in time to see a barn owl flying directly at me, low, about eight feet above the ground. The large bird veered to its left and silently flapped away through the oak boughs. I heard nothing.
Not that barn owls are always quiet. They produce a range of vocalizations, but the species is best known for its “scream” call. To my ear, this startling sound is a cross between car tires squealing over pavement, a woman shrieking, and a stressed house cat’s yowl, but raspy, as if filtered through the texture of rough sandpaper. Most people would n’t recognize the sounds as that of an owl.
Until last year (2024), all of the world’s barn owls were one species, Tyto alba, found on every continent except Antarctica. Based on molecular phylogenetic studies, that cosmopolitan species was split into three. Our American bird was rebranded as Tyto furcata, and its range is restricted to the Americas, both North and South. The Eastern Barn Owl (Tyto javanica) is found from South Asia to Australia and the Western Barn Owl (which retained Tyto alba) lives in Europe, Africa, and western Asia. This color column is based on our North American subspecies, Tyto furcata pratincola, that lives through North America.
Note: These archival poster prints feature rich, appealing colors. I encourage customers to take care in handling them until they are framed/protected for display; the darker colors on the matte paper can be scratched. They ship rolled, so customers need to flatten them before framing (or have their framer do so).
Charitable Sales Model: Whenever one of these poster prints is purchased, a charitable contribution equal to 10% of the print’s cost (or $3.60) is made to a nonprofit working to tackle environmental or social challenges. Read more about my charitable sales model here.