Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo
  • Home
  • About
    • Blog
    • Centennial
    • Contact Us
    • Donation Requests
    • Jobs
    • Press
  • Guest Info
    • Accessibility
    • Calendar
    • COVID Guidelines
    • For Kids >
      • Coloring Pages
      • Zoo Patrol
      • Zoo Tots
    • Our Animals
    • Our Plants
    • Parents
    • Zoo Cams >
      • Outdoor Red Panda Cam
      • Indoor Red Panda Cam
      • Outdoor Spider Monkey Cam
      • Indoor Spider Monkey Cam
      • Otter Cam
    • Zoo Etiquette
    • Zoo Map
  • Membership
  • Education
    • Bird Walks
    • Citizen Science >
      • FrogWatch
      • MonarchWatch
    • Conservation >
      • City Nature Challenge
      • Conservation Pledge
    • Cool Blue >
      • Cool Blue Schools
    • Distance Learning
    • Educational Resources
    • Evening Lectures
    • Field Trips
    • Just 4 Teens >
      • CDC
      • Explorers
    • Teachers
  • Support
    • Animal Sponsorship
    • Appeal
    • Corporate Support
    • Donate
    • Events >
      • Centennial Gala
      • Wild Wine, Beer & Food Safari
    • Gift Guide
    • Monthly Giving
    • Naming Opportunities
    • Wish List
  • Parties, Rentals & Weddings
    • Birthdays
    • Private Events
    • Weddings
    • Rates and Details
    • Preferred Vendors
    • Preferred Wedding Vendors
    • Event Guidelines
  • Volunteer
    • Interns
  • En Espanol
  • Buy Tickets

Barn Owl (Tyto alba)

Picture
Description:
Barn Owls have distinctive heart-shaped faces with small stiff feathers around the edge of the ‘facial disc’. They are pale overall with dark eyes. They have a mix of buff and gray on the head, back, and upper wings, and are white on the face, body, and under wings. When seen at night they can appear all white. These medium-sized owls have long, rounded wings and short tails, which combine with a buoyant, loping flight to give them a distinctive flight style. The legs are long and the head is smoothly rounded, without ear tufts.
​
Females are larger than males. Females often have darker brown feathers around the rim of the facial disc as well as darker bars on the tail and small black spots on the chest and underside of the wings. Males are generally lighter and a more pure white underneath.
 
Barn Owls long legs that are feathered all the way down to their gray talons. This helps them to catch prey hidden under long grass.
 
Barn Owls are nocturnal. Their large eyes and super-sensitive hearing makes them expert hunters even in total darkness. Their hearing is aided by the fact that they have lop-sided ears. One is higher than the other, which helps them to pinpoint the exact location of tiny sounds.
 
Barn Owl feathers are quite soft and this helps them to hunt silently, however, they are not very water resistant and will get soaked if it rains..
 
Barn Owls do not “hoot”. They make a “screeching” sound.

Range:
Barn Owls are found on every continent except Antarctica. However, they are not found in deserts or Polar Regions of the continents.

Habitat:
They live near large areas of open land over which to hunt. This can either be marsh, grasslands, or mixed agricultural fields. For nesting and roosting, they prefer quiet cavities, either in trees or man-made structures such as barns or silos.
 
Diet:
Carnivore – they prefer rats, voles, shrews and mice. They also eat other small animals like lizards and amphibians. A wild Barn Owl usually eats about 4 small mammals every night, that’s 1,460 per year! Food is often swallowed whole – bits of fur and bone are then regurgitated (coughed up) as an owl pellet.
​
Family Life:
Barn owls are solitary or found in mating pairs. They are usually monogamous, sticking to one partner for life unless one of the pair dies.
 
Life span:
Barn Owls live up to 4 years in the wild. They have been known to live up to 30 years in human care.
 
Status: 
​
Least Concern
Barn Owls are one of the most widespread of all landbirds, found on six continents and many islands.
Picture
203-394-6565
​info@beardsleyzoo.org 
1875 Noble Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06610
Open 9am-4pm daily
​Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo is dedicated to acquainting a diverse public to the delicate balance that exists between living things and their environment.

Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo is a 501(c)(3) not for profit owned and operated by the Connecticut Zoological Society.

2019 Kids Out and About #1
Association of Zoos & Aquariums
Connecticut - Still Revolutionary
Weekly Best of Fairfield County Readers' Poll 2014
FC Buzz Events - Arts & Culture of Fairfield County
© 2022 Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo
  • Home
  • About
    • Blog
    • Centennial
    • Contact Us
    • Donation Requests
    • Jobs
    • Press
  • Guest Info
    • Accessibility
    • Calendar
    • COVID Guidelines
    • For Kids >
      • Coloring Pages
      • Zoo Patrol
      • Zoo Tots
    • Our Animals
    • Our Plants
    • Parents
    • Zoo Cams >
      • Outdoor Red Panda Cam
      • Indoor Red Panda Cam
      • Outdoor Spider Monkey Cam
      • Indoor Spider Monkey Cam
      • Otter Cam
    • Zoo Etiquette
    • Zoo Map
  • Membership
  • Education
    • Bird Walks
    • Citizen Science >
      • FrogWatch
      • MonarchWatch
    • Conservation >
      • City Nature Challenge
      • Conservation Pledge
    • Cool Blue >
      • Cool Blue Schools
    • Distance Learning
    • Educational Resources
    • Evening Lectures
    • Field Trips
    • Just 4 Teens >
      • CDC
      • Explorers
    • Teachers
  • Support
    • Animal Sponsorship
    • Appeal
    • Corporate Support
    • Donate
    • Events >
      • Centennial Gala
      • Wild Wine, Beer & Food Safari
    • Gift Guide
    • Monthly Giving
    • Naming Opportunities
    • Wish List
  • Parties, Rentals & Weddings
    • Birthdays
    • Private Events
    • Weddings
    • Rates and Details
    • Preferred Vendors
    • Preferred Wedding Vendors
    • Event Guidelines
  • Volunteer
    • Interns
  • En Espanol
  • Buy Tickets