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The big facts page

267 owl facts, every one sourced

Everything we say anywhere on this site, in one place, grouped by topic. Click “source” to see where it came from.

Owls in general 10

  1. Owls make up the order Strigiformes: mostly solitary, nocturnal birds of prey with an upright stance, a big broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons and feathers adapted for silent flight. source
  2. How many owl species are there? It depends who is counting. Wikipedia’s owl article says “over 200” in one place and “some 220 to 225” in another. source
  3. Owl experts Martin & Mikkola (2014) noted that recognised species had risen from about 130 in 1984 to over 250, with more than 100 of those still waiting on DNA confirmation. source
  4. There are two living owl families: the typical owls (Strigidae) and the barn owls and bay owls (Tytonidae). source
  5. Owls live in every region on Earth except the polar ice caps and some remote islands. source
  6. A group of owls is called a “parliament”. source
  7. Owls are an ancient lineage: Paleocene fossils show they were already distinct around 60–57 million years ago. source
  8. Until 2016–18 the barn owl was treated as one worldwide species. It has since been split into four, and Britain’s bird is now the western barn owl, Tyto alba. source
  9. In owls, females are typically larger than males. source
  10. Almost all owls are listed on Appendix II of CITES, the treaty that controls international wildlife trade, and four species are on Appendix I. source

Anatomy and senses 25

  1. Owls can turn their heads as much as 270°. They cannot turn them all the way round. source
  2. Owls have 14 neck vertebrae; humans have seven. source
  3. Special blood-vessel plumbing keeps blood reaching the brain while the head turns. The holes the arteries pass through are about ten times wider than the arteries themselves. source
  4. Owl eyes are so big for the skull that they have become tube-shaped and are fixed in their sockets, so an owl turns its head instead of its eyes. source
  5. Owls are farsighted: they cannot focus on things within a few centimetres of their eyes. Bristly “filoplume” feathers around the beak and feet help them feel prey up close. source
  6. Owls have the most forward-facing eyes of any bird group, which gives them some of the widest binocular vision. source
  7. Barn owl eyes are, on average, twice as light-sensitive as human eyes, and very movement-sensitive. Anything that keeps still and silent is usually ignored. source
  8. The barn owl’s heart-shaped facial disc collects sound and directs it toward the ears. source
  9. A barn owl’s ear openings sit at different heights, one higher than the other, so the brain can work out exactly where a sound comes from. source
  10. Owls locate sound by the tiny difference in arrival time between the two ears, about 30 microseconds, turning the head until the sound reaches both ears at once. source
  11. Experiments have shown barn owls can catch prey in total darkness by hearing alone. source
  12. The Barn Owl Trust says barn owl hearing is one of the most sensitive of any animal ever tested. source
  13. Ear tufts are not ears. They are just feathers; the real ears are on the sides of the head. source
  14. Barn owls have very low wing loading (big wings, light body), so they can fly very slowly without stalling. source
  15. The leading wing feather has a row of tiny hooks that deaden the sound of air hitting the wing, and the feather surfaces are soft and hair-covered. source
  16. Owls’ velvety, serrated flight feathers cut wing noise above about 2 kHz, below the hearing range of their usual prey. source
  17. Some fish-eating owls lack the silent-flight serrations, because fish can’t hear them coming anyway. source
  18. The price of silent flight: barn owl feathers are not very waterproof, so they avoid hunting in rain. Wet feathers are noisier and less efficient. source
  19. Barn owls have remarkably long legs, toes and talons for reaching prey at the base of deep grass. Prey is thought to be killed by the clench of the feet rather than a peck. source
  20. The Barn Owl Trust thinks the white underside is most plausibly an anti-silhouette trick, because from below a pale bird is harder to see against the sky. source
  21. Unlike day-flying birds of prey, owls have no crop; food goes straight to the stomach. source
  22. Owls rarely drink. They get almost all their water from their food. source
  23. Owls have very little sense of smell, so parents will not reject a youngster just because a human has handled it. source
  24. Grip strength varies hugely: a burrowing owl needs only 5 N to release its prey, a barn owl 30 N, and a great horned owl over 130 N. source
  25. Barn owls build a detailed “mental map” of their home range, and mostly avoid flying into things in the dark by remembering clear flight paths. source

Diet and hunting 17

  1. In Britain, barn owls eat mainly small mammals: field voles make up about 45% of the diet, common shrews 20% and wood mice 15%. source
  2. House mice, brown rats, bank voles and pygmy shrews are also taken; amphibians, birds and bats are rare in UK barn owl diets. source
  3. A barn owl typically eats 3–4 prey items a night; feeding a pair and their young works out at almost 4,000 prey items a year. source
  4. Barn owls hunt by flying low (up to about 3 metres) and slowly back and forth, relying mostly on sound, often hovering before the pounce. source
  5. In the strike, a barn owl dives head-first, then swings its head back and replaces its face with outstretched talons. source
  6. Young barn owls learn to hunt almost entirely by instinct, at 8–14 weeks old. source
  7. In Ireland, where there are no field voles or common shrews, barn owls rely more on mice. source
  8. In winter barn owls hunt more from posts, which saves energy and body heat. source
  9. They can’t store much body fat, so barn owls are prone to starvation in long spells of bad weather. source
  10. Barn owls in the UK can catch the greater white-toothed shrew, a non-native invasive species. source
  11. Tawny owls eat mainly wood mice and bank voles, plus rabbits, moles, small birds, beetles, earthworms, frogs and even fish. source
  12. Little owls eat mainly crickets, grasshoppers, beetles and earthworms as well as small mammals, and usually hunt from a perch, typically a fence post. source
  13. When it spots prey, a little owl sometimes bobs up and down a few times before swooping down. source
  14. A barn owl hunting in daylight is wonderful to watch, but it often means the owl is struggling to find enough food. source
  15. Snow more than about 70 mm deep, or frozen hard, makes it very hard for barn owls to catch voles and shrews hidden underneath. source
  16. A long study in south-west Scotland found barn owl survival tracked vole numbers more closely than winter weather. source
  17. Barn owl deaths peak between December and March, mostly from starvation. source

Pellets 16

  1. Barn owls swallow prey whole but can’t digest fur and bone, so they cough the leftovers up through the beak as a pellet. source
  2. Making a pellet takes 6 hours or more, and an owl brings up 1 or 2 after each night’s hunting. source
  3. Barn owl pellets are about the size of a man’s thumb, black when fresh and grey with age, and often hold the remains of 4 or 5 small mammals. source
  4. Pellets pile up at roosts and nest sites. Collect quietly: barn owls are legally protected from disturbance when nesting. source
  5. Dry fresh pellets thoroughly and keep them airtight, or freeze them in an unsealed bag or box. Freezing kills the harmless clothes-moth grubs that like the fur. source
  6. Dry pellets are easiest, but soaking for 24 hours helps get small bones out intact. Tease them apart with fingers or tweezers. source
  7. Pellets don’t smell and are not droppings, but always wash your hands with soap and water afterwards. source
  8. The simplest way to identify prey is to find the lower jawbones and pair up the left and right jaws; that also tells you how many animals were eaten. source
  9. In old roosts, clothes moths eat the fur and leave the tiny bones, which can last for many years. source
  10. In 2008 Defra’s lawyers advised the Barn Owl Trust that owl pellets are not “derived from” birds, so they may be collected, kept or traded without a licence. source
  11. Dead owls, eggs and feathers are different. The law bans possessing wild-bird parts unless you can show they were obtained lawfully, and selling them is illegal unless you are a registered person. source
  12. The Barn Owl Trust sells individual pellet dissection packs. Wild pellets from the Trust are strictly limited to schools and educational groups. source
  13. Little owl pellets are different from other owl pellets, but similar to kestrel pellets. source
  14. Shrew jaws are easy to spot: common shrews have red-tipped teeth. source
  15. The rusty tips on shrew teeth come from iron deposits that harden the enamel. source
  16. Vole molars are high-crowned with angular cusps; mice have low-crowned molars with rounded cusps. source

Calls 9

  1. Barn owls don’t hoot. They shriek, hiss and snore, and they rarely call. source
  2. The famous “twit twoo” is a tawny owl. Usually the female calls “kewick” and the male “hoohoo”, but calls vary. source
  3. The classic “tu-whit tu-who” is really a duet: the female’s kew-wick and the male’s answering hooo. source
  4. Shakespeare put the tawny owl’s call into Love’s Labour’s Lost: “Tu-whit; Tu-who, a merry note”. source
  5. If you regularly hear an owl hooting, it is likely to be a tawny owl. source
  6. The little owl’s call is a plaintive “kiew kiew”, plus a “wherrow” said to sound like a small dog barking. source
  7. The long-eared owl gives a rarely heard “hoo, hoo, hoo”, and only in the breeding season. source
  8. The short-eared owl male’s rarely heard song is a low “boo-boo-boo”; females give a “ree-yow”. source
  9. Hungry barn owlets give a food-begging “psh… psh…” call. source

Identification 8

  1. Barn owl: about 330 mm tall, 900 mm wingspan, white underneath, golden-buff above, white heart-shaped face, dark eyes. Lives in open farmland, not woodland. source
  2. Tawny owl: about 430 mm tall, 950 mm wingspan, brown or grey, dark eyes. The most common owl in the UK, found wherever there are mature trees, cities included. source
  3. Little owl: about 220 mm tall, 560 mm wingspan, pale yellow eyes. Likes mixed farmland and old orchards; largely active by day. source
  4. Long-eared owl: about 350 mm tall, 950 mm wingspan, orange eyes, long ear-tufts when raised. Extremely nocturnal; gathers at communal roosts in winter. source
  5. Short-eared owl: about 350 mm tall, 1,000 mm wingspan, yellow eyes, short and often invisible ear tufts. Hunts in daylight over moorland, marsh and farmland. source
  6. It is almost impossible to sex a barn owl in flight. Females often have darker rims to the facial disc and small dark spots on the chest; males are paler. source
  7. Female barn owls are around 360 g, males around 330 g; before egg-laying, a female may reach 425 g. source
  8. Owlet ID trick: young tawny owls have vivid pink eyelids; young barn owls have dark eyes and dark eyelids. source

Breeding 19

  1. Barn owls can breed in their first year. Most lay in spring, though nesting has been recorded in every month. source
  2. The UK average first-egg date for barn owls moved from 9 May (before 1990) to 17 April, almost certainly because of climate change. source
  3. Barn owls typically lay 4–6 eggs (average 4.7). source
  4. Barn owls start incubating from the first egg, so after 31–32 days chicks hatch every 2–3 days. The oldest and youngest can be up to three weeks apart. source
  5. Barn owls don’t build a nest. They lay on a layer of old pellets. source
  6. The female barn owl does all the incubation and the male brings all the food until the chicks are about 3 weeks old. source
  7. About 10% of barn owl pairs may breed twice in a year. source
  8. Barn owl courtship includes mutual preening and cheek rubbing. source
  9. At about 6 weeks old, well-fed barn owlets can be 100 g heavier than the adults. source
  10. Barn owlets make their first short flights at 8–9 weeks; on average only 2.5 young fledge per nest. source
  11. At about 13 weeks young barn owls leave to find their own home range. source
  12. Tawny owls nest early (average first egg 23 March in the UK) and lay 2–3 eggs, incubated for about 30 days. source
  13. Young tawny owls leave the nest before they can fly. This is called “branching”; their parents keep feeding them wherever they are, even on the ground. source
  14. Little owls nest in cavities, mostly tree holes in the UK. They lay 3–5 eggs towards the end of April and incubate them for about a month. source
  15. Short-eared owls lay big clutches: typically 4–7 eggs (up to 9 recorded), incubated for about 26 days. source
  16. Long-eared owls typically lay 3–4 eggs and incubate them for about 28 days. source
  17. BTO data: barn owl clutches are typically 4–6 eggs (observed range 2–12), incubated for about 32 days, with chicks fledging at around 52–61 days. source
  18. BTO data: tawny owl clutches are typically 2–3 eggs, incubated 30 days; chicks fledge at around 35–39 days. source
  19. BTO data: little owls typically lay 3–4 eggs, incubated 29–30 days. source

Lifespan 10

  1. Most barn owls die in their first year, so average life expectancy in Britain is only about 18 months. source
  2. BTO: a barn owl that reaches breeding age typically lives about 4 years. source
  3. Records differ: the Barn Owl Trust says the oldest barn owl found in Britain was 18 years old (European record 30), while BTO’s ringing record is 15 years 3 months. source
  4. BTO maximum age from a ringed barn owl: 15 years, 3 months, 21 days (set in 2016). source
  5. BTO: tawny owls reaching breeding age typically live 4 years; the oldest ringed bird reached 23 years 5 months. source
  6. BTO: little owls reaching breeding age typically live 3 years; the oldest ringed bird reached 13 years 10 months. source
  7. BTO: oldest ringed long-eared owl 12 years 10 months (set in 1987). source
  8. BTO: oldest ringed short-eared owl 6 years 7 months (set in 1963). source
  9. Starvation is thought to be the main cause of barn owl deaths. source
  10. Captive barn owls have a life expectancy of about 20 years, which is a long commitment. source

Records 3

  1. The smallest owl is the elf owl: as little as 31 g and about 13.5 cm long. source
  2. The heaviest owls are the Eurasian eagle-owl and Blakiston’s fish owl. The largest females reach 71 cm long, a 190 cm wingspan and 4.2 kg. source
  3. The great grey owl is the longest owl, with the largest facial disc of any raptor. source

Home range 5

  1. Barn owl home ranges are huge: up to 5,000 hectares in winter, shrinking to about 350 ha in summer. source
  2. Barn owls don’t defend territories, so their home ranges can overlap. Tawny owls do defend territories. source
  3. Once a barn owl settles a home range it will almost certainly stay for life, and barn owls are very faithful to their mates. source
  4. A tawny owl territory is 12–20 hectares, and tawnies rarely leave it once settled. source
  5. Young barn owls disperse on average 7.8 km; most move less than 10 km. source

Behaviour 4

  1. Most owls are nocturnal, but some hunt by day, such as the short-eared owl and the burrowing owl. source
  2. In Great Britain the western barn owl also hunts by day, though it is nocturnal over most of its range. source
  3. Despite their super-hearing, barn owls sometimes choose to roost and nest in very noisy places. source
  4. Barn owls take little notice of artificial lights. source

UK status 8

  1. Barn owl: Green-listed in the UK (Birds of Conservation Concern). source
  2. The barn owl moved from amber to the UK green list in 2015. source
  3. Tawny owl: Amber-listed. It is the UK’s most common owl, but RSPB says numbers fell by more than 40% between 1995 and 2023. source
  4. The tawny owl is not on Schedule 1, so it has no special legal protection from disturbance while nesting (though, like all wild birds, its active nest is protected). source
  5. Long-eared owl: Green-listed in the UK. source
  6. Short-eared owl: Amber-listed, partly because it is of European conservation concern. source
  7. Little owl: “Not assessed”. It was introduced to Britain in the 19th century, so it isn’t given a UK conservation colour. source
  8. Barn owls are on Schedules 1 and 9: it is illegal to disturb them at the nest, and illegal to release them into the wild. source

UK populations 18

  1. There has only ever been one reliable UK-wide barn owl survey (1995–97): almost 4,000 pairs, ±30%. source
  2. 2025 was a terrible year: active barn owl nests were about 25% below average, the worst breeding year in a decade, likely linked to drought. source
  3. In 2024, 1,789 barn owl nests were monitored and occupancy was 39% above average. source
  4. BTO lists the UK barn owl population at 4,000 pairs (2016) and a breeding-population increase of 223% (1995–2024). source
  5. BTO: about 50,000 pairs of tawny owls (2005). Its detailed trend is −39% (1967–2024), though its summary box calls the trend “stable”, because tawnies are hard to monitor. source
  6. BTO puts little owls at about 3,600 pairs (2016), with a fall of 88% (1967–2024). source
  7. The Barn Owl Trust estimates around 6,000 pairs of little owls in Britain. source
  8. BTO: about 1,800 pairs of long-eared owls (2007–11). They are so secretive that this is hard to measure. source
  9. BTO: about 620 pairs of short-eared owls (2007–11); the latest estimate range is 620 to 2,200 pairs. The breeding range has almost halved since 1968–72. source
  10. Short-eared owls are nomadic: BTO tracking showed one bird attempting to breed in both Scotland and Norway. source
  11. Little owls were introduced to England in the 1800s, and they are absent from Ireland. source
  12. The first documented little owl record in Britain was in Greater London in 1758. source
  13. The long-eared owl’s first documented British record dates from 1544. source
  14. Tawny owls are found in England, Scotland and Wales, but not in Ireland. source
  15. The Barn Owl Trust lists the tawny as absent from islands including the Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Northern and Western Isles and Scillies, and suggests it is unwilling or unable to make short sea crossings. source
  16. The tawny owl is absent from Ireland, probably because of competition from the long-eared owl. source
  17. In winter, short-eared owls from Scandinavia, Russia and Iceland arrive in Britain. source
  18. European long-eared owls come to Britain for the winter. source

Snowy owl 7

  1. The snowy owl is a rare, less-than-annual visitor to Britain from the Arctic. source
  2. A celebrated pair of snowy owls bred for eight years on Fetlar in Shetland until 1976. Females kept summering there until 1993. source
  3. The first documented snowy owl in Britain was in Shetland in 1812. source
  4. The snowy owl is the only owl with mainly white plumage; males tend to be purer white, while females have more dark flecks. source
  5. Most owls hunt at night, but the snowy owl is often active during the day, especially in summer. source
  6. The snowy owl was uplisted to Vulnerable by the IUCN in 2017 after evidence that its population is far smaller than once thought. source
  7. Harry Potter’s Hedwig is a female snowy owl. source

Eurasian eagle-owl 3

  1. Eurasian eagle-owls have bred in the UK since at least 1996. An estimated 12–40 pairs lived there as of 2016, where they are arguably non-native. source
  2. The Eurasian eagle-owl is one of the largest owls: females reach 75 cm long with a 188 cm wingspan. It has ear tufts and distinctive orange eyes. source
  3. The IUCN lists the Eurasian eagle-owl as Least Concern, with 100,000–500,000 birds, though the trend is decreasing. source

World owls 19

  1. Elf owl: about the size of a sparrow, it often nests in old woodpecker holes in saguaro cacti and feeds mainly on insects. source
  2. Blakiston’s fish owl lives along rivers in China, Japan and the Russian Far East, and is classed as Endangered by the IUCN because riverside forest is being lost. source
  3. The burrowing owl of the Americas lives in burrows, often ones dug by animals such as prairie dogs or ground squirrels. Its long legs let it sprint after prey, and it is often active by day. source
  4. The great horned owl is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas and one of the few regular predators of skunks. source
  5. The northern hawk-owl is one of the few owls often active during the day, and the only living species in its genus, Surnia. source
  6. The spectacled owl is a large tropical owl of old-growth rainforest from southern Mexico to South America. source
  7. The Eurasian pygmy owl is Europe’s smallest owl. source
  8. The boreal owl is called Tengmalm’s owl in Europe, after Swedish naturalist Peter Gustaf Tengmalm. source
  9. The Eurasian scops owl is a small migratory owl that winters in Africa south of the Sahara. source
  10. The barred owl has spread from eastern North America to the West Coast, where it is considered invasive. source
  11. The spotted owl of western North America is Near Threatened, with a decreasing population, under pressure from habitat destruction. source
  12. Saw-whet owls are some of the smallest owls in North America. source
  13. The forest owlet of central India was not seen after 1884 and was considered extinct, until Pamela Rasmussen rediscovered it in 1997. It is Endangered. source
  14. Searches failed at first because the last specimen had been stolen from the British Museum by Richard Meinertzhagen and relabelled with a false locality. source
  15. The Philippine eagle-owl is the largest owl in the Philippines, though small for its genus. source
  16. The laughing owl of New Zealand is extinct. The last confirmed specimen was found dead in Canterbury on 5 July 1914. source
  17. The powerful owl is Australia’s largest owl, and unusually the male is larger and stronger than the female. source
  18. Pel’s fishing owl of Africa feeds at night on fish and frogs snatched from the surface of rivers and lakes. source
  19. The oriental bay owl of South-east Asia and parts of India is completely nocturnal, with a heart-shaped face that has ear-like extensions. source

Folklore 6

  1. The link between owls and wisdom goes back at least to Ancient Greece, where the owl was a symbol of Athena, goddess of wisdom. source
  2. In Hinduism, the owl is the mount (vahana) of the goddess Lakshmi and can symbolise wealth and good fortune. source
  3. In Japan owls are regarded as lucky, although in ancient times they were associated with death. source
  4. Among the Kikuyu of Kenya, owls were believed to be harbingers of death. source
  5. The barn owl has many folk names, including ghost owl and demon owl. source
  6. The little owl’s scientific genus, Athene, commemorates the Greek goddess Athena, and a little owl with an olive branch appears on the modern Greek one-euro coin. source

Threats 16

  1. Most rat poisons used today are highly toxic SGARs (second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides). source
  2. The share of barn owls found contaminated with these rodenticides peaked at 94% in 2015; the latest (2022) figure is virtually 80%. source
  3. Earlier monitoring found 100% of kestrels examined in 2011 were contaminated, along with 94% of red kites. source
  4. The poisons found in barn owls are 100 to 1,000 times more acutely toxic than warfarin. source
  5. In a typical year Britain’s barn owls raise about 12,000 young, and an estimated 3,000–5,000 of them are killed on roads. source
  6. Less than 2% of Britain’s roads are major roads, but that’s where over 90% of barn owl road casualties are found. source
  7. Most road deaths happen in autumn and involve young barn owls dispersing from home. source
  8. The fix for roads is to plant high hedges or close lines of trees on both sides, which forces owls to fly up and over the traffic. source
  9. Don’t put up a barn owl nestbox within 1 km of a major road unless the road has continuous screens on both sides. source
  10. Barn owls drown in cattle troughs, water butts and buckets. Any steep-sided container more than about 120 mm deep is a potential death-trap. source
  11. The fix is a purpose-made float. A floating log or plank does not work. source
  12. The Barn Owl Trust once found the remains of two barn owls, two little owls and a kestrel in one trough. source
  13. The RSPB says barn owl declines in the 1950s and 60s are thought to have been caused by organochlorine pesticides such as DDT. source
  14. Worldwide, owls face habitat loss, pesticides, viruses and vehicle collisions. source
  15. In 2008 a news report from Malaysia described 900 plucked, “oven-ready” owls being seized. source
  16. Nobody is sure why tawny owls have declined. Woodland management, urbanisation and climate effects on prey are among the suspects. source

Helping 14

  1. Rough grassland is the best barn owl hunting habitat in Britain, because thick grass shelters voles, so they build up in good numbers. source
  2. Barn owls need 14–47 hectares of rough grassland within 2 km of a nest site, depending on the landscape: arable 14–21 ha, mixed 17–26, pastoral 31–47. source
  3. Safer rat control, in order: remove food, remove shelter (harbourage), encourage natural predators, and use traps. Poison is a last resort. source
  4. Government-funded research found that removing harbourage is as effective as using poison. source
  5. Avoid “preventative” and permanent baiting, which the Barn Owl Trust calls a major cause of secondary poisoning. source
  6. Barn owl nestboxes in buildings work best in a rural building at least 4 m high with an opening 3 m or more above the ground, ideally within 1 km of rough grassland. source
  7. Without a nestbox, only 48% of old barns have a nesting place, and 97% of modern barns are unsuitable. source
  8. Clean out a barn owl box between November and January, when it is least likely to be in use. source
  9. Avoid urban, suburban, dense forest and high-mountain areas for barn owl boxes. source
  10. Tawny owl boxes go in mature trees at least 3 m up (3.7 m or more where people pass), with the entrance away from the prevailing wind. source
  11. Tawny owls defend their nests fiercely, so full face and head protection is recommended when checking a box. source
  12. Do tawny box maintenance in early autumn, when the box is least likely to be in use. source
  13. You can record wild barn owl sightings on the Barn Owl Trust’s Barn Owl Survey website. source
  14. Report ringed barn owls you find: ring recoveries feed vital science, and 1 in 7 ringed barn owls are recovered. source

Found an owl 17

  1. It is legal to pick up an injured or sick wild owl, provided the sole intention is to release it once it can survive. source
  2. A healthy adult owl should be impossible to pick up, so an adult owl you can easily approach needs help. source
  3. If you must handle it, use thin leather gloves or drop a towel over it. Watch the feet: they can do more damage than the beak. source
  4. Keep it in a solid-sided pet carrier or a ventilated cardboard box (about 30×30×60 cm) with a towel inside, somewhere quiet and at room temperature. source
  5. Write down exactly where you found it (a grid reference or what3words). The Barn Owl Trust calls this crucially important. source
  6. A young tawny owl on the ground is usually fine: it is “branching” and its parents will feed it. Leave it where it is, or put it up on a branch nearby, the same day and before dusk. source
  7. The Barn Owl Trust says the vast majority of owlets picked up by people are healthy. source
  8. A young barn owl on the ground is different. The adults normally feed only in the nest, so a fit owlet must go back into the actual nest. source
  9. Visiting an occupied barn owl nest normally needs a licence. The agencies are unlikely to require one for returning an owlet once, but repeated visits need one. source
  10. Take an owl straight to a bird-experienced vet if it has a broken bone, an eye injury, blood in the beak or ears, or maggots, or is obviously very ill. source
  11. Healthy owls are often subdued in a box and can play dead while being handled. source
  12. Don’t try to tube-feed or force fluids without being shown how; that is a job for experienced vets and rehabilitators. source
  13. Hand-rearing an owlet and releasing it later is not the best thing for it. source
  14. RSPCA (England & Wales): report injured wildlife online or call 0300 123 8960. source
  15. The RSPCA counts birds of prey among larger animals that shouldn’t be handled. source
  16. Bird flu: the RSPCA says don’t touch or handle sick or dead birds; if you must, wash your hands thoroughly. source
  17. For a captive owl in trouble, the RSPCA’s 24-hour cruelty line is 0300 1234 999. source

Owls as pets 10

  1. The Barn Owl Trust does not consider barn owls good pets. source
  2. Owl feathers aren’t designed for stroking, which reduces their natural waterproofing. source
  3. Sharp talons and strong feet can inflict deep puncture wounds. source
  4. Indoors, expect long white droppings streaked across curtains and furniture. source
  5. Owls are most active when hungry, so most of the time a captive owl is completely inactive. source
  6. Hand-reared (imprinted) owls may treat people as mates or rivals, can be very aggressive, and may keep calling for food. source
  7. Releasing a captive-bred barn owl is illegal (up to £5,000 and/or 6 months’ prison per bird), and the owl is unlikely to survive more than a week. source
  8. Commercial use of a captive-bred barn owl, including sale, needs an Article 10 certificate. source
  9. Bird sanctuaries often refuse to take captive-bred barn owls. source
  10. Owls are notoriously difficult to train. source

Law 2

  1. Barn owls are on Schedule 1, so offences can mean a fine of up to £5,000 or six months’ prison, per bird, nest or egg. source
  2. Tawny and little owls don’t get the barn owl’s special Schedule 1 protection against disturbance while nesting. source

Isle of Man 21

  1. Historically, the Isle of Man had no tawny owls. A 1924 Manx account says “the tawny owl, as in Ireland, absent.” source
  2. Manx BirdLife now says small populations of tawny owl “appear to have become established in recent years.” source
  3. But Manx BirdLife’s 2021 conservation assessment lists tawny owl among species that have nested only occasionally, with no definite or probable breeding records from 2006 onwards. source
  4. Martin & Mikkola (2014), citing the 2007–11 Bird Atlas, say tawny owls have bred on the Isle of Man, where they were formerly absent. source
  5. The long-eared owl has long been the Isle of Man’s commonest owl, as it is in Ireland, where tawny owls are absent. source
  6. Manx BirdLife says conifer reforestation brought the occasional crossbill and long-eared owl. source
  7. Manx Wildlife Trust: long-eared owls are regular breeders on the Isle of Man. source
  8. In 1924 a Manx writer noted that “the handsome long-eared owl inhabits many of our plantations” and that barn owls seemed scarce. source
  9. Barn owls are rare on the Isle of Man, with fewer than 10 known breeding pairs. source
  10. The Manx name for the barn owl is caillagh oie, “night hag”. source
  11. The Manx Barn Owl Project, run by Manx BirdLife with Manx Wildlife Trust’s Farmland Birds Officer, installs nest boxes and monitors breeding. source
  12. Manx owl records are treated as sensitive. Please don’t share nest locations publicly. source
  13. On the Isle of Man, barn owls are protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Act 1990. source
  14. Manx barn owls forage mainly in rough, ungrazed grassland. source
  15. The last comprehensive assessment of Manx barn owls was the Manx Bird Atlas (Sharpe et al. 2006), so sightings help. source
  16. In 2019 the project director told IOM Today that barn owls were reintroduced to the island about 40 years earlier, after being considered extinct in the wild there. This is a newspaper quote, not a published study. source
  17. The island’s wet climate is hard on barn owls. source
  18. In 2019 the project estimated 10 to 12 pairs. source
  19. Threats to Manx barn owls include habitat loss, roads, modern buildings with no nest spaces, and falling prey numbers. DDT was a past cause of decline. source
  20. The long-eared owl is on Schedule 1 in Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. source
  21. Manx BirdLife’s 2021 BoCCIoM was the first conservation assessment of Manx birds: 166 of the 332 species on the Manx list were assessed. source

See also corrections & uncertainties and the source list.