Beautiful Night-time

Featured animal:   Barn owl (Tyto alba)

Photo credit: None

Location:  Bangalore, India

The barn owl is nocturnal like most owls, relying on its acute sense of hearing when hunting in complete darkness. It often becomes active shortly before dusk.  Barn owls specialise in hunting animals on the ground and nearly all of their food consists of small mammals, which they locate by sound. The barn owl is a medium-sized, pale-coloured owl with long wings and a short, squarish tail. The pale face with its heart shape and black eyes give the flying bird a distinctive appearance, The bird’s head and upper body typically vary between pale brown and some shade of grey. The heart-shaped face is usually bright white, the iris is blackish brown. The barn owl is the most widespread landbird species in the world, occurring on every continent except Antarctica.