How long does a barn owl live. Barn owl: description, habitat, photo

Unusual appearance barn owls noticeably distinguishes it from other owls. To be convinced of this, one glance at the bird's face is enough. Some compare it to a mask, others to the muzzle of a monkey, and to the third, the facial halo of feathers barks an association with a heart. Among the common people, the barn owl has many nicknames - and ghost owl, and night owl, and screeching birds a, and barn owl. Each of the names appears in various folk legends about this colorful bird.
The appearance of the barn owl
These birds are painted in a reddish hue, with ashy blotches and dark spots. The head has a rounded shape, the muzzle is strongly flattened, the body is slender, the plumage is fluffy and soft. The eyes of an owl are large and expressive, therefore, having met a barn owl once, you will never forget it, especially if the meeting takes place in a twilight forest and suddenly.
barn owl has a body length of 30 - 40 centimeters, and its wingspan reaches almost a meter. The structure of the owl's hearing aid is interesting - one ear is located on the forehead, and the other in the nose area. This asymmetry only contributes to better perception sounds of a living victim.
Tellingly, the bird can fly without making any noise at all. And having flown up, with sharpness and surprise appears before the eyes. Any ghost will seem like a funny parody if the barn owl scares you.
The name of a bird from the order of owls is speaking. The name "barn owl" is explained by the hoarse voice of the bird. The sounds coming from her throat resemble a human cough with hoarseness. Also, the owl is endowed with the ability to produce loud clicks with its beak, instilling fear in forest tourists.
Barn owl habitats
This bird is common on every continent of the earth, naturally, excluding Antarctica, because even such plumage, like barn owls, is not able to save it from the harsh cold of the ice edge. As for our country, these owls inhabit only the Kaliningrad region.
Southeast Asia, Madagascar and Africa can boast of the preservation of relic representatives of the barn owl genus. They are truly gigantic in size. Among various kinds These owls are most abundant in the barn owl, which can also be found in Australia, America, New Guinea, Asia, the East, Africa, the Russian Federation and Europe.
Details from the life of a barn owl

Like other representatives of the order of owls, the barn owl is a real winged predator, preferring to get food in the dark. Benefits night hunting serve as noiselessness of flights and the presence of special auditory receptors. In the daytime, the bird sleeps in the shade, in cool and secluded places.
During the flight, the barn owl often changes altitude to better inspect its territory and find food or set up an ambush. If she meets a relative in her personal domain, she will immediately launch a fearsome attack and drive the stranger away. When preventive action fails, the bird actively beats the intruder with its powerful paws.
What does this owl prefer? She enjoys eating field mice, small birds, moles, shrews, insects, hamsters, frogs and other amphibians. The chosen victim will no longer be able to escape from the excellent hunting instinct of the barn owl, the sharpness of her hearing and keen eye. The predator is able to grab prey on the fly, tenaciously clamping it with its claws. Then she takes it to the place where she can slowly feast on meat.
Since barn owls perfectly catch mice, they bring great benefits to people with this natural activity. Mice are known to gnaw through the walls of houses and various food stores, carry dangerous diseases, so the excessive increase in their population is successfully contained by owls.
A significant feature is the fact that human activity has an extremely favorable effect on the life of barn owls. They do not like dense forests and mountainous terrain, often settling near residential buildings. Partial deforestation and the establishment of agriculture only helps to increase the spread of birds.
barn owl breeding

The male is looking for a place to nest. If the female approves the proposed option and considers that the proposed site will be a great place for their future chick, then the barn owls mate, giving life to a new generation.
An owl clutch can consist of 4 or 6 eggs, which need to be incubated for more than one month. Chicks are born covered with a whitish down, they are funny and clumsy. Parents feed and care for the owls for 3 months. Then they leave their father's nest and lead an independent existence.

If you like our site tell your friends about us!

So aristocratic in Latin execution Tyto alba in Russian it sounds much more prosaic - barn owl. This is the name of an owl that can be found in any part of the globe, except perhaps for Antarctica.

Among domestic expanses, this owl with the face of a monkey, she is also a golden owl, she is a night owl, she is a screeching and ghostly owl (and this is not the limit - there are no unofficial, folklore names for the barn owl) more than others chose the territory of the Kaliningrad region.

Obviously, this bird owes most of its exotic names to its unusual appearance. Ornithologists have even singled out a separate niche for the barn owl in the register of categories - there are too many things that distinguish it from other species of owls. Both the body is longer and slenderer, and the eggs laid by barn owls are distinguished by an unusual oval shape among owls, and most importantly, the facial disc of Tyto alba has a unique heart contour, which you will not find in any other owl. As if drawing attention to the amazing form, nature gracefully outlined it with a contrasting border.

The dimensions of the bird are small: the length is about 40 cm, the wingspan is up to a meter, and the weight does not reach a kilogram. Barn owls have an unusually fluffy and delicate plumage of a specific color. If the palette of the upper body includes red shades with ashy and darker splashes, stripes and other marks, then its lower part is mostly white, less often interspersed with yellowness.

Large round dark eyes on an almost snow-white muzzle of an owl attract the eye like a magnet. From the "unusual" you can not ignore the hearing aid barn owl. The fact is that the ears of these owls are extremely strange: one perched in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe nostrils, the other settled at the level of the forehead. Thanks to this oddity, nocturnal birds manage to hear any sounds made by potential prey, no matter at what angle to the prey they make their flight.

Barn owls often frighten late travelers to convulsions - both with their appearance, reminiscent of a ghost a la “Casper and his friends”, and with a terrible scream, more like a tearing cough. Actually, it is thanks to its famous hoarse “Kh-he!” the owl was called the barn owl. But the most terrible sounds can be heard from these angelic creatures with a muzzle-heart during the mating season: they scream, hoot, squeal and click their beak indecently loudly.

But now the couple has formed, and the male immediately begins to show his best master qualities as the head of the family - he looks for the most suitable place for the nest, and then calls the female with a cry to “approve” the choice. However, birds do not build nests in the usual sense: they simply settle in a spacious, dark and protected place - it can be a hollow in a tree, a depression in a rock, an abandoned hole, and even an attic in a house.

flickr/Rick Wylie

As a result of living together, the female barn owl lays 4-6 eggs, which it takes her a little more than a month to hatch. All this time, the male carefully carries her food. The hatched chicks look very touching - their bodies are covered with thick snow-white fluff, they move awkwardly and are completely unable to take care of themselves. Only after a month and a half, the grown up owlets begin to leave the nest, and a little later they spread their wings and make their first training flights. And by the age of 3 months they say goodbye to the parental nest and go on their own swimming. More precisely, in flight.

On this thorny path, they actively use the skills acquired in their father's house and hunt for prey with skill. During the day, the barn owl sleeps in the shade and coolness of the nest, but as soon as dusk thickens, this pale ghost owl goes for provisions. Beware frogs, mice, birds and hamsters! And if a rabbit, a squirrel or a squirrel fell into the claws of a predator, the hunt can be considered mega successful.

By the way, it is not known how a person would be able to cope with the problem of breeding rodents - big fans of the grain harvest, if it were not for the barn owl. One owl for a month is able to cope with such a horde of mice that even cats that are in excellent hunting shape could envy her achievements.

The barn owl is a member of the barn owl family. Predator, although not very large. People gave her several nicknames, which is reflected in folk art. For example: a screeching or ghostly owl, a night owl, a “bird with a monkey face” and others. Indeed, in the guise of this there is something similar to a primate.

Features and habitat

Scientists ornithologists did not classify barn owls as a specific group, and decided to single out a separate category for them. barn owl - the most common species, and today it lives virtually everywhere except for Antarctica and a number of regions of North America and Canada, as well as in hot Africa.

Despite the fact that this owl is a predator, its characteristics are the most common: length - 25-50cm, body weight - 200-800g. Wingspan - 80-95 cm. Females are larger than males by about 10%. The plumage is soft and fluffy. The upper body and head are usually dark gray or brown, and the entire body is speckled. The facial disc is white in the shape of a heart, which can immediately distinguish the barn owl from other owls. Belly, chest and muzzle - white, often with spots . The bird has a slender body, and dark pink fingers of an owl are crowned with black claws. The eyes are expressive, with an iris.

Since the body of the barn owl not prone to fat accumulation, low temperature is not for them. On the territory of the Russian Federation, barn owl can be found only in the Kaliningrad region. In mountainous regions at high altitudes and in arid African deserts, this owl does not live either. In the twentieth century the bird was specially brought to the Hawaiian, Canary and Seychelles, so now many varieties of barn owl live in this territory.

Most of all, the bird likes open plains with a sparse forest area and many swamps and other bodies of water nearby. Meadows, ravines and wastelands- also attracted in the first place. Often these night hunters settle near human habitations and farmlands, because there is always food here, in particular, small rodents.

The Australian or masked barn owl lives not only in Australia, but also in Tasmania, New South Wales and a number of other territories. Australian barn owls differ from other representatives of the species in their colorful appearance and dimensions: females are considered the largest in comparison with other species.

At present, the black bird is considered the least studied: its activity occurs in the dead of night and it is difficult to observe it. This owl settles mainly in thickets of eucalyptus forests, meadows and edges of New Guinea and eastern Australia.

The barn owl is called the "ghostly owl" because of its ability to abruptly appear in front of an unsuspecting person without the slightest sound. It is believed that the bird earned its name for a somewhat hoarse voice that can scare a traveler lost in the forest.

In addition to the ability to silently fly, the barn owl has developed vision and hearing, so it can perfectly navigate at night. In the daytime, the bird is in a hollow, on the roof, in another shelter. This owl prefers a solitary lifestyle, but in places rich in food, there are small clusters of birds.

Barn owl often circles its territory while changing height frequently. Seeing an intruder, she begins to move menacingly to intimidate him. Flapping its wings, the owl is able to attack the visitor with strong paws or a beak, which it snaps menacingly when attacked.

In the immediate vicinity of a person, a barn owl usually builds a nest in an attic, in a barn or in an outbuilding, but in the wild this predator can easily occupy someone else's nest or hole.

Nutrition

The predator usually hunts late at night. Being on the hunt, it flies low enough above the ground, looking for prey.

Its main food is small rodents.:

• moles;
• hamsters;
• rats,
• opossums;
• mice-voles;
• others.

But the diet varies depending on the region where the bird lives.. So, she can feast:

• birds (even birds of prey);
• frogs;
• bats;
• reptiles;
• some invertebrates.

Barn owl is not the best pet. Firstly, the owl body is arranged in such a way that they need to eat at least three fresh rodents daily, so if you decide to shelter a barn owl, take note of this.

Secondly, the barn owl is nocturnal, which means that it is suitable as a pet only for people who prefer to stay awake at night.

Reproduction and lifespan

The breeding season lasts the first two months of spring. The male seeks out a place for the future nest. The nest must be hidden from the eyes of a person and other potential ill-wishers.

Usually, barn owl nests wind at a respectful height from the ground. For one laying, the female gives 4-7 eggs, from which the chicks hatch in a month. After 1.5 months, the chicks become stronger and begin an independent life. About ¾ of young animals die in the first year of life, those who are more fortunate can live up to 11 years. Sometimes, even in captivity, barn owls lived to be several decades old.

During the nesting period of the barn owl make more sounds - shrill or hoarsely hoot and scream. Outside of the breeding season, birds are usually silent. To make noise, birds can flap their wings or snap their beaks.

conservation status

The bird is not considered an endangered species. However, a serious danger to this bird lies in the reduction in the number of usual nesting sites.

In Eastern Europe, for the last decades, it is not clear why, the number of barn owls has been catastrophically reduced. Representatives of the species are almost never found in Belarus and the Baltic countries, rarely catch the eye in Moldova and Ukraine.

Barn owl is in the Red Books of several countries of Eastern Europe.

Benefits for a person

Owls often choose attics, outbuildings, ruins, bell towers. In English, the barn owl is called "barn owl", i.e. "barn owl". In cities, barn owls hunt mice and rats, since there is no shortage of these rodents in large settlements, our predator also has no shortage of food. In addition, the "urban" birds have perfectly learned to catch bats and nocturnal insects by the light of lanterns.

Barn owls and other owls have always been treated by people with superstitious fear, like other owls, they were considered a symbol of wisdom. Today superstitions are a thing of the past and people feel sympathy for this bird, because it fights rodents.

Barn owls are the most ancient branch of owls, as evidenced by fossils. Now they have been preserved only in the form of a small relic group.

barn owl - Tyto alba- one of the most common birds in the world. It lives in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, tropical Asia, Australia, the islands of the Indian Ocean (Madagascar and others). The only representative in the western hemisphere, where it is found from southern Canada to Tierra del Fuego. Introduced to some archipelagos of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The introduction of the barn owl in the Seychelles was a tragedy for the endemic kestrel ( Falco araea) - owls, instead of ridding the archipelago of rats, adapted to get falconers, and also became their nesting competitors. The number of kestrel was seriously undermined; now a bonus is paid here for the destruction of the barn owl.

The barn owl forms more than 40 subspecies (some of the island races of the Caribbean are now considered an independent species Tyto glaucops). It is absent in most of extratropical Eurasia, in Russia it breeds only in the Kaliningrad region.

It is a medium-sized owl with relatively long legs and a heart-shaped facial disc. Coloration varies depending on the subspecies: there are light fawn birds with white underparts and light rufous upperparts, and dark island subspecies with rufous underparts and dark gray upperparts. Females, as a rule, are darker than males, and their mottles are brighter and their number is greater. On average, the barn owl is 29-44 cm long, weighing 187-400 g. For females, the measurements are as follows: length 34-40 cm, wingspan 110 cm, weight 570 g. For males: length 32-38 cm, wingspan 107 cm, weight 470. The Western European nominative subspecies has a light, almost white color, which determined the specific Latin name of the bird (alba - “white”).

For the form that breeds in Eastern and Central Europe guttata characterized by a length of 33-35 cm, a wingspan of about 90 cm, a weight of 300-400 g. The top is ashen, with buffy stripes on the wings, the bottom is golden with a rare, dark speck, the facial disc is white with a dark brown border along the edge and dark marks on the eyes that have a black iris. The beak is light gray, the legs are yellow or brown. The head is large, round, without "ears". The wings are rounded in shape, the tail is short, with white or light brown feathers. Barn owl screams infrequently, her cry is a drawn out, hoarse, repeating trill. Parents returning to the nest make a low sound, similar to a frog croaking. Caught off guard at the nest, the birds hiss and snap their beaks.

The ears of barn owls are asymmetrical, one in the forehead, the other at the level of the nostrils. The auditory openings run at different angles, which allows birds to hear the sound signals that prey makes. Short thick feathers framing the faceplate are good sound reflectors. Barn owls are very susceptible, and in the case of a loud sound, they cover their ear holes with plugs feathered with small feathers.
Many sounds made by barn owls have been noted, but the main one is a hoarse screeching trill, which can also be heard during the flight of barn owls. The call of the female is in a lower tone.

The owl got its Russian name for the low, hoarse, rattling cry “heee”, which they emit more often than the usual owl hoot. Outside the breeding season, barn owls live alone or in pairs. In English, it is called a barn owl. Indeed, this species gravitates toward human dwellings, often nesting in attics, outbuildings, ruins, churches, bell towers. In natural biotopes, they live in hollows of trees, in natural niches in rocks and along river banks, and nest in hollows, burrows, nests of other birds.

Barn owls are very active hunters, and they devote a significant part of their time to hunting. They are partially migratory: northern populations move south during the winter months. When meeting a violator of its territorial possessions, the barn owl spreads its wings and waves them, approaching the enemy and touching him with feathers. At this time, the head turns back. The barn owl hisses and clicks with its beak, which should frighten the stranger even more. In the event that the demonstration is not enough, the barn owl will attack the enemy, falling on his back in the truest sense of the word and striking with his feet.

Although barn owls are found in areas with different climatic conditions, they prefer a mild climate zone with moderate winter temperatures. They settle on open plains with dense grass cover, inhabit plantations, swamps, coastal areas, savannahs. Almost never found in dense forests and mountains.

Barn owls are monogamous, occasionally there are cases of polygamy. With the onset of the mating season, the male flies around the tree where he is supposed to make a nest, making sharp hoarse sounds in order to attract the attention of the female. Then the male chases the female, during the chase both birds make characteristic hoarse shrill sounds. There is no seasonality of reproduction in the tropics, in temperate latitudes it starts nesting in March-April. Mating occurs every few minutes while searching for a nesting site. The male sits down on the female, firmly compresses her neck and balances with outstretched wings. Mating continues during incubation and caring for the chicks. Barn owls choose an old nest for nesting, less often they look for a new one. Most birds nest in hollows up to 20 m above the ground. The nest is arranged in a dark place, the eggs are surrounded by pellets - balls of food regurgitated from the stomach. The clutch usually contains 4-8 (up to 16) relatively small eggs (their length is 38-46 mm, width 30-35 mm with a white or cream-colored shell, which the female lays at intervals of 2-3 days.

The breeding success of barn owls depends on the food supply. In years with abundant food, a couple can produce two clutches. Incubation lasts about a month, from 29 to 34 days, starting from the first or second egg, the chicks are born in white fluff, they are fed in the nest for two weeks. The young leave the nest after 35-45 days, fledge at 50-55 days, and become completely independent from their parents by the age of 3 months. For the last week of their life with their parents, they hunt together, adopting the hunting techniques of their elders, and then fly away from the nest. The barn owl is characterized by long-range dispersion of young birds: chicks ringed in Holland were then caught in Ukraine and Spain. Far flights of barn owls to the north of the range were recorded repeatedly. Young birds are capable of breeding as early as 10 months of age.

On average, the life expectancy of barn owls is no more than two years, most birds breed once or twice per season. According to ringing, lives in nature up to 18 years. In North America, one barn owl lived in captivity for 11 years 6 months, in Holland - one barn owl lived in conditions wildlife 17 years 10 months. A barn owl from England is known, which lived in captivity for 22 years.

Barn owls are nocturnal predators, they hunt alone, starting an hour after sunset. Sometimes they fly around soybean hunting territories, rising and falling on the fly, sometimes they hunt from ambush, occupying an observation post on a low perch. Its flight is almost silent, as the feathers on the edges of its wings dampen the sound of flapping wings. They have excellent vision in low light, and in the case of complete darkness, they hunt, relying on hearing. In this they are helped by the feathers of the lower body, which capture the movement of air, which is caused by the movement of a potential victim. Barn owls attack their prey from a height of 1.5-4.5 m above the ground, capture it with their paws, peck at a place on the back of the skull. They swallow their prey whole.

The barn owl feeds mainly on mouse-like rodents, but also catches small birds, reptiles, frogs, large beetles and moths. In some cases, they feed on rabbits, bats. Some populations specialize in local animals - for example, the Malaysian barn owl feeds mainly on palm rats. In Australia, it is a house mouse ( Mus muscle), in America and Europe - voles, as well as other murines, shrews and rats. In most of the range, this is a background species of owls, but in the east of Europe in recent decades, for unknown reasons, there has been a catastrophic decline in numbers. The species has almost disappeared from the Baltic countries and Belarus, has become rare in Ukraine and Moldova. Barn owl is listed in the Red Books of Eastern Europe. The barn owl is not among the endangered species, but it is threatened by the reduction of its usual habitats. Its importance for agriculture is great: it maintains at the required level the number of rodents that damage crops.

As a result of climate change, snow cover in the northern regions lingers for a longer period, which harms barn owls. Unlike other birds, they do not accumulate fat reserves, so by the end of winter they freeze or are so weakened that they are not able to breed. They are also harmed by the use of pesticides in agriculture, from which barn owls suffer more than other owls. Due to pesticides, the shell thickness of the eggs is sometimes insufficient, which reduces the success of reproduction.

Barn owls are found on all continents except Antarctica, on large islands, throughout Australia, including Tasmania. They are distributed in Europe (including Britain) from the extreme north of Scandinavia (Sweden) and the extreme west of Russia south to the Mediterranean and Africa, to the very south of South Africa (in all areas adjacent to the Sahara except Djibouti), in the Comoros, Madagascar, on Middle East, Iraq, Iran and Arabian Peninsula; inhabit plains below 1000 m above sea level in Pakistan, India, found in the south of the Andaman Islands, in the south of Burma, in the extreme southwest of China, in Thailand, Cambodia, in the north of Laos, in the south of Vietnam and the Malay Peninsula, on the islands Sumatra, Borneo, Java, adjacent to them, in the southeast of new Guinea, the Bismarck archipelago, in Australia and Tasmania. It lives in many areas of North America from southwestern British Columbia and Washington to the West Indies, Mexico, Central and South America. In South America, they inhabit grassy plains and oceanic islands such as the Galapagos. Barn owls are introduced in the Seychelles, Hawaii, and New Zealand.

35 subspecies are known, some island barn owls are classified as separate species:
Tyto alba alba- Britain and Western and southern Europe, North Africa.
Tyto alba poensis- West Africa.
Tyto alba guttata- Central and Eastern Europe.
Tyto alba ernesti- Mediterranean, light-colored owls on the islands of Sardinia and Corsica.
Tyto alba affinis - tropical Africa, south of the Sahara.
Tyto alba hypermetra - Madagascar and Comoros.
Tyto alba stertens- Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka, east to Assam and Burma. India, south and center of China, Vietnam, south of Thailand.
Tyto alba thomensis- island of San Toma I - dark-colored barn owls.
Tyto alba deliculata(including T.a.lulu) - Australia, and the islands in the South Pacific Ocean Tasmania, Timor, Solomon Islands.
Tyto alba pratincola(including T.a.lucayana and T.a.bondi) - North and Central America from southern Canada to Mexico, the Bahamas, Bermuda and Hispaniola.
Tyto alba guatemalae(including T.a.subandeana) - Nicaragua, Western Colombia, from Western Guatemala to Panama.
Tyto alba tuidara- South America, east of the Andes, in the south of the Amazon from Brazil to Argentina and Thiers del Feugo.
Tyto alba furcata - Cuba, Isle of Pines, Grand Cayman Island and Jamaica.
Tyto alba contempta - South America, the temperate forest zone of Ecuador and Colombia to Western Peru - the smallest barn owl, dark in color.
Tyto alba insularis - Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean: St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Bequia, Union, Carryakou, Grenada.
Tyto alba schmitzi- Madeira - barn owls with 4 - 5 stripes on the wings.
Tyto alba gracilirostris - The Canary Islands are birds with a thin beak.
Tyto alba detorta - Cape Verde Islands: Santiago and St. Vicente.
Tyto alba javanica - Burma, Southwest China, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, South Vietnam, Malaysia, South Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Kangean Island.
Tyto alba erlangeri - Middle East: Iraq, Iran, Arabian Peninsula.
Tyto alba meeki- Southeast New Guinea, nearby islands.
Tyto alba crassirostris - islands of the Bismarck archipelago.
Tyto alba interposita - Santa Cruz Islands, Banks Islands, North Vanuatu.
Tyto alba lulu- New Caledonia, South New Hebrides, Loyalty Islands, Fiji, Saoa, Sisaeti.
Tyto alba lucayana- Bahamas.
Tyto alba nigrescens- Lesser Antilles: Dominica.
Tyto alba bargei - Lesser Antilles: Curacao.
Tyto alba subandeana - tropical Colombia and Ecuador.
Tyto alba hellmayri- Guiana to the Amazon, west to Suriname.
Tyto alba punctatissima - Galapagos Islands.
Tyto alba hauchecorni - Chile.

Based on the materials of the book Koblik E.A. Diversity of birds, part 3, Moscow, Moscow University Press, 2001 and sites
http://www.owls.org/, http://www.owlpages.com/, http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/.

The barn owl is well known to residents of Western European countries, however, little is known about it in Russia. This is the most ancient branch of the owl order. Its Latin name sounds like Tyto alba, and English - Barn owl. The people called her a night owl, a ghostly and screeching owl. Its distinguishing features are a peculiar voice and the shape of the head. Who is this barn owl, and what kind of life does she lead? Let's talk in more detail in this article about one of the most common owls in the world.

Barn owl: description

The name of this one, apparently, came from the peculiarity of her voice, reminiscent of a kind of snoring or vulture. It differs from other representatives of owls in shape. facial disc in the form of a heart, while giving the impression that she is wearing a white mask. The small bird has a light color and a peculiar face. It is approximately the same size as long-eared owl or a jackdaw. It reaches 33-39 cm in length, its body weight is 300-355 g, and its wingspan is about 90 cm. By the way, its weight can vary widely and depends individually on a particular individual. It can be either 180 g or 700 g.

In the upper part, its color has acquired a sandy (red) color with white and dark speckles. The barn owl is white in the lower part (rarely yellow), in addition, dark blotches are present in the plumage. The facial disc is light and has a flattened appearance, it also received an ocher border, under the eyes there is a small area of ​​red feathers. Wings - fawn-white, with a golden-striated pattern. - dark brown or black. Her eyes are expressive and large. It has a slender physique, and it also has long paws, which have thick and fluffy plumage to the fingers. She has a short tail. The beak is yellowish white. By the way, the color of the lower part depends on the habitat of the barn owl. For example, in North Africa, Western and Southern Europe, in the Middle East it is white, but in the rest of Europe it is yellow-orange.

By gender, outwardly, they practically do not differ from each other. The females are slightly darker, but this is not very noticeable. Young chicks also do not differ from adults, sometimes they are more colorful.

As we have noticed, such a bird as a barn owl has a very memorable appearance, the photo clearly demonstrates this to us.

Habitat

There are 35 subspecies of the barn owl, which are distributed on all continents, excluding only Antarctica, and they are also found on the islands. Previously, it could be found in the Baltic States and other CIS countries: now it lives there in small numbers. On the territory of Russia, it is found only in the Kaliningrad region. In the European part, it is absent in the northern regions and mountain systems.

On the one hand, the barn owl is adapted to various geographical conditions, as it is distributed almost everywhere, and on the other hand, it does not have the ability to accumulate fat reserves in itself, therefore it does not tolerate a harsh climate. In the northern regions of the United States and in most of Canada, in Northern Europe and almost throughout Russia, for this reason, it is not. The bird cannot also live in the African and Asian deserts.

There were cases when the barn owl was artificially populated by humans in areas where it had never been. Thus, she appeared in the Seychelles and Hawaiian Islands, in New Zealand. After the barn owl was settled in the Seychelles, the kestrel population began to decline, on which it fed.

Favorite places to stay

Barn owl almost always settles near human dwellings. It breeds both in large cities and in countryside. He likes to settle in attics, in hollows and wall niches. Prefers rooftops and abandoned buildings. The barn owl is most often found in open plains where there are few trees. These can be places such as woodlands, swamps, dense meadows, and the bird also lives along wastelands, reservoirs, ravines and highways.

It can often be found where agricultural farms and human habitations are located. Barn owl tries to avoid dense forests and high mountainous places. For this bird, the following conditions are necessary for distribution: the availability of food, the absence of cold winters and weak competition with other predators. Basically, they do not change their habitat, the exceptions are situations when the food supply in their habitat is depleted.

What does he eat?

Her favorite food is mouse-like rodents, she can also cope with pasyuki (large She can catch up to 15 mice per night. Rarely eats small birds, in particular sparrows, as well as large and amphibious insects. Rats can be used as food , voles, hamsters, shrews, opossums.They can also catch bats, frogs, reptiles and invertebrates.The owl grabs the victim right on the fly, clamps it with its tenacious claws and carries it to a place where it can safely feast on it.

The peculiarities of the location of the hearing aid allow the bird to capture all the sounds that the victim makes, which helps her a lot when hunting. Her ears have an asymmetrical arrangement: one of them is at the level of the nostrils, and the other is in the forehead.

Barn owl's characteristic voice

She makes a hoarse whistling noise. Barn owls defiantly flap their wings and click their beaks. By the way, this feature of them can involuntarily terrify people who decide to relax in the silence of the forest and meet with her. Many sounds made by this owl have been noted, but still the hoarse screeching trill that can be heard during its flight is still the predominant one. The call of a female barn owl is lower in tone.

By the way, she got her Russian for a low, rattling, hoarse cry that sounds like “heee”. They emit it more often than the usual owl hoot. Her peculiar hoarse voice resembles a hoarse cough.

nocturnal lifestyle

She flies out to hunt in the late twilight and is strictly nocturnal. As a rule, they live alone, but can be found in small groups in areas where game accumulates. Since barn owls lead at night, they sleep during the day. For sleep, they choose some kind of niche, natural or artificial - it can be a hole in the ground or an unused attic.

During the hunt, they change height - they either rise up, then descend again, flying around the possessions. They can also wait for the victim, hiding in ambush. Their wings are designed in such a way that their flight is as silent and soft as possible, in addition, they have excellent vision and hearing. By the way, in some regions barn owls hunt during the day, for example, in Britain, but at this time of day there is a danger for them in the form birds of prey such as seagulls.

The barn owl kills its prey with its claws, then steps on it with a long leg and tears it with its beak. It has a very mobile neck, thanks to which it can eat prey without bending over. During the meal, the feathers of the facial disc move, and it seems that the owls grimace.

reproduction

The barn owl is usually monogamous, but cases of polygamy are also not excluded. In a year there is one, less often two clutches. The beginning of the breeding season depends, as a rule, on the climatic conditions of the habitats and the amount of food. In warmer regions and where there is plenty of food, they can breed at any time of the year. For example, in the temperate zone of Europe or North America, this begins in March-June. If there is a re-laying, then the hatching of the chicks will take place in the period March-May and June-August.

The male himself chooses the place where the nest will be, and then begins to call the female. As such, the nest is not built; a closed and dark place is chosen for this. This may be a recess in an old stump, a tree hollow and other niches. The female is engaged in incubating the eggs, while the male brings her food. The conditional nest is located at a height of 2-20 meters above the ground, the clutch size is usually 4-7 eggs, but can be from 2 to 14. There are more of them, as a rule, during periods characterized by an abundance of food. The size of the eggs, which are white or cream in color, averages 30-35 mm.

During the breeding season, birds make various sounds. They scream shrillly and hoarsely, hoot and sniff, making a characteristic “heee” sound. The rest of the time, as a rule, owls are silent. The female incubates the eggs for about a month. Juveniles fly out of the nest on the 50-55th day of life.

By the way, a pair of owls remains together until the death of one of the partners. The female and male live close to each other, but one by one.

Behavior in times of danger

In a calm state, a sitting barn owl holds its body straight, and if the bird is worried, it assumes a threatening posture - it spreads its paws, spreads its wings in a horizontal plane and clings to the ground. When she meets the violator of her territorial possessions, she actively flaps her wings, coming closer and closer to the enemy. Hissing loudly and snapping its beak. If this does not help, then she attacks the enemy, falling on his back and striking with her clawed paws.

Barn owl chicks

The hatched chicks are completely dependent on their parents, who take turns feeding them. At birth, they are covered with thick white down. In the event that it is very cold, the barn owl does not leave the nest at all and warms the chicks, which become completely independent after three months. Grown up chicks fly away to new places and find another territory for living and reproduction. A barn owl can have even 10 chicks at a time, if conditions allow, but in a hungry year, as a rule, no more than 4 eggs are expected.

It is noted that the behavior of their chicks is atypical for birds: they show altruism, refusing food in favor of those who are more hungry than they are. Compared to most other birds, in which the cubs literally tear food from each other in order to eat themselves, this fact is of great interest to such a bird as the barn owl. A photo of her chicks shows how they look when they are born.

Parents show concern even after their chicks fly out of the nest: they continue to care for them and feed them until they become completely independent, that is, they reach the age of three months.

people attitude

The barn owl has always been a symbol of wisdom among people, but at the same time they treated this bird with superstitious fear. Now superstitions are becoming a thing of the past, and a person is increasingly showing genuine interest in her. Barn owls instilled fear in people because of some of their features: a white face resembling a mask, frightening sounds, and also because of the habit of this bird to silently fly up and appear sharply in front of a person, for which people called it a ghostly owl.

The barn owl mainly feeds on rodents, thereby benefiting humans. People have long appreciated the help of these owls in the destruction of pests. So, in the 17th century, such a practice spread when special windows were made in houses, barns, mills and other buildings through which barn owls could penetrate and destroy rodents. Thus, the birds remained full, and benefits were brought to humans.

If they notice a number of people, they begin to behave very interestingly: they rise high, sway on their feet in different directions and at the same time depict various grimaces. If you get very close to her, then she, as a rule, flies away.

How long does a barn owl live?

Under natural conditions, barn owls can live up to 18 years, but this is the maximum figure. In fact, it turns out that they basically live very little - their average life expectancy is about 2 years. Cases have been recorded when a barn owl was able to live in natural conditions up to 17 years, in North America a bird in captivity died at the age of 11.5 years, but in England a record was broken - the bird lived in captivity for 22 years.

We talked about such interesting bird, like a barn owl, about what her habits are and how she is useful to humans. Unfortunately, due to changes in environment and the use of pesticides in various parts of Europe, barn owl populations are declining. It is also not uncommon for birds to die from collisions with cars on the roads. Currently, the barn owl is a bird that is listed in the Red Books of a number of countries in Eastern Europe, where, for unknown reasons, in recent decades there has been a rapid decrease in its numbers.