What owls can’t do (and what they can)

Myth Owls can turn their heads all the way round.

Fact Nope. Owls can turn their heads as much as 270°. They cannot turn them all the way round. source Owls have 14 neck vertebrae; humans have seven. source 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

Myth Ear tufts are ears.

Fact They’re feathers. Ear tufts are not ears. They are just feathers; the real ears are on the sides of the head. source

Myth “Twit twoo” is one owl.

Fact It’s usually a conversation. The classic “tu-whit tu-who” is really a duet: the female’s kew-wick and the male’s answering hooo. source The famous “twit twoo” is a tawny owl. Usually the female calls “kewick” and the male “hoohoo”, but calls vary. source

Myth All owls hoot.

Fact Barn owls don’t. Barn owls don’t hoot. They shriek, hiss and snore, and they rarely call. source If you regularly hear an owl hooting, it is likely to be a tawny owl. source

Myth Owls are strictly nocturnal.

Fact Several hunt by day. Most owls are nocturnal, but some hunt by day, such as the short-eared owl and the burrowing owl. source In Great Britain the western barn owl also hunts by day, though it is nocturnal over most of its range. source Most owls hunt at night, but the snowy owl is often active during the day, especially in summer. source

Myth Owl pellets are droppings.

Fact They come out the other end entirely. 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 Pellets don’t smell and are not droppings, but always wash your hands with soap and water afterwards. source

Myth If you touch an owlet, its parents will reject it.

Fact Owls barely smell. Owls have very little sense of smell, so parents will not reject a youngster just because a human has handled it. source

Myth An owlet on the ground has fallen and needs rescuing.

Fact Often it’s exactly where it should be. 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 The Barn Owl Trust says the vast majority of owlets picked up by people are healthy. source 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

Myth A barn owl hunting in daylight is a good sign.

Fact Often it means the owl is struggling. A barn owl hunting in daylight is wonderful to watch, but it often means the owl is struggling to find enough food. source

Myth Barn owls mate for life.

Fact Close, but we can’t source “for life”. 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

Myth The Isle of Man has no tawny owls.

Fact That’s out of date. Historically, the Isle of Man had no tawny owls. A 1924 Manx account says “the tawny owl, as in Ireland, absent.” source Manx BirdLife now says small populations of tawny owl “appear to have become established in recent years.” source 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

Myth There are exactly 250 owl species.

Fact Depends who’s counting. 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 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

Myth Owls are wise.

Fact That’s Ancient Greek PR. 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