Driving home in the dark I'm startled by a flash of white wings in my headlights. Attracted to the lure of a rodent crossing the road, a barn owl's low-altitude flight pattern leads him directly into harm's way. The barn owl's flight is almost completely silent. The wing feathers have a serrated edge that dampens sound. Large wings in relation to his body size allows him to fly very slowly, which also reduces noise. Unfortunately, that slow, steady glide makes it difficult for him to dart out of the way of an approaching car. Though I manage to avoid the hunting owl this time, I'm becoming extra-vigilant when driving at night.
American Barn Owls, Tyto furcata, have pale, heart-shaped faces and white underparts. With a wingspan of 31-37 inches, they are lighter (.95-1.4 pounds) than they appear. Their fluffy feathers trap air which makes them look bigger without adding weight. It also aids in dampening flight sound.
Unlike the great horned owl, which emits the classic whoo-hoo call, the barn owl produces a raspy screech or hiss. The eerie sound is thought to have given rise to the Irish folklore of the Banshee—a female spirit that foretells death with her scream. In Mexican lore, the birds were called lechuza, a shape-shifting witch. She hunts at night mimicking the sound of a crying baby.
Like other owls, the barn owl has a ring of feathers around the face that directs sound towards the ears. The ear openings are asymmetrical, helping the owl to compare differences in timing and volume of sound in three dimensions. This allows them to locate prey in total darkness. They eat voles, small rats, gophers, and mice. Contrary to popular opinion, they don't eat ground squirrels; they only hunt at night and squirrels are active in the day.
A barn owl can eat up to 3000 rodents in a breeding season; about one-third its body weight in a night. It swallows the rodents whole, bones and all. The soft tissue is broken down in the first chamber of the stomach. The second chamber separates the digestible food from the hard bones, feathers, and fur and compacts them into a pellet. 6-12 hours later, the owl coughs up the pellet of indigestible parts.
Ironically, secondary poisoning from rodenticides kills huge numbers of owls. When owls eat poisoned rats, the toxin builds up in the owl's system. Conservationists advocate using barn owls as a natural form of rodent control. If properly placed, barn owls are quite accepting of artificial nest boxes. To purchase a box or for design specifications visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology- Build a Barn Owl Box. And make sure you place it in an open area away from the road.
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