With heart-shaped face, buff back and wings and pure white underparts, the barn owl is a distinctive and much-loved countryside bird. Widely distributed across the UK, and indeed the world, this bird has suffered declines through the 20th century and is thought to have been adversely affected by organochlorine pesticides such as DDT in the 1950s and '60s. Nocturnal birds like the barn owl are poorly monitored by the Breeding Bird Survey and, subject to this caveat, numbers may have increased between 1995-2008.
Key ID Features:
The ghostly form often seen hunting at dusk is unmistakable and appears almost pure white when illuminated in car headlights.
Medium sized owl with white under parts and tan and grey patterned upper parts.
Pale heart shaped facial disc houses dark eyes.
Longish rounded wings and long, sometimes dangling legs are visible in flight.
Scientific name: Tyto alba
Family: Owls (Strigidae)
Where to see them
Open country, along field edges, riverbanks and roadside verges.
Seen in UK:
All year round; during the day, but best at dusk.
What they eat
Mice, voles and shrews.
Text (c) RSPB, used with permission
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Photographer: Tim Tapley
