The barn owl also known as the screech owl, because of its high-pitched scream, is one of several owls native to Britain. It is the silent hunter of dusk and dawn which has emerged as Britain’s favorite farmland bird. With heart shaped face, buff back and wings and pure white under parts the barn owl is a distinctive and much loved countryside bird.
It is widely distributed across the UK. Barn owl can be recognized by its light colored plumage which is white on its front and orange-brown on its back with ash grey colored specks. It has a heart shaped disc of feathers around its face.
It relies mostly entirely on small rodents and unlike some other birds of prey tend to stay fairly local for hunting. If barn owl gets wet, it has to face problem especially if food is scarce, because ‘getting dry’ requires energy, and of course, regular intake of mice and voles is a pre-requisite for the provision of energy.
Barn owl has such sensitive hearing it is able to exactly locate a field mouse rustling through straw in a pitch dark barn. Its ears are located at different positions on the sides of its head. One is at the height of its forehead and the other is level with its nostril. Barn Owls do not build nests themselves. Instead they rely on a variety of nesting sites for laying their eggs, such as tree cavities, rock ledges, and ledges in barns.
The bird has suffered declines over the past fifty years as a result of the degradation of once prey-rich habitats in the face of intensive agricultural practices. This decline, fortunately, has halted in many areas and the population may now be increasing.
Image Credit for the first picture
Source: Telegraph
