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Common Barn Owl
(also called ghost owl, monkey faced owl, white owl, barnyard owl, hissing owl)

Most widely distributed of all the owls; however, the Barn Owl is on the Endangered Species List in Illinois.

Body length 13.5 inches to 20 inches; weight 8 ounces to 21 ounces; wingspan 42 inches to 43 inches or about 3.5 feet.

Lives in open woodlands, meadows and farm fields, deserts, and urban areas. Barn Owls are cavity dwellers.

Best hearing of all the owls, have demonstrated by using their hearing to catch prey in total darkness. Can even hear a mouse walking across a hard floor from 100 feet away.

Diet is small rodents such as mice, moles, pocket gophers, rats, and shrews. Prey also consists of birds, bats, reptiles and insects. It has been said that during a 10-year period of time, the Barn Owl may consume upwards of 11,000 rodents which in turn could damage or eat 13 tons of crops.

Barn Owls will breed anytime of the year, but this depends on food supply.

Photo by Cathy Hoover.