Aside from being packed full of superb photographs of birds from all over the world, Owen’s website is effectively a bird database that features an extremely useful lookup function where you can browse through the thousands of photos using the scientific classification system; that is, Order, Family, and Genus. Today we are launching a new series called Family Focus where our aim is to help you find out about more beautiful birds. What better birds to start with than the one many of us associate with learning and wisdom: the owls.
Owls belong to the order called Strigiformes, and that group is further divided into two smaller groups, known as families: the Tytonidae family which includes Barn Owls who have heart-shaped faces, and the Strigidae family which includes all other owls, most of whom have round, disc-shaped faces.
Owls are known as enigmatic nocturnal hunters, with traits like keen eyesight, incredible hearing, silent flight, and formidable hunting prowess. But not all owls are alike! Their fascinating diversity begins with the shape of their faces. This can help you determine just which family of owls you are looking at, and from there you can learn about other differing physical characteristics and habitat preferences and explore their diversity.
Tytonidae: The Barn Owls
The Tytonidae family is best known for the barn owls (Tyto alba) and their relatives. These owls are characterized by their distinctive heart-shaped facial discs, which enhance their ability to detect sound, making them formidable hunters even in complete darkness. Tytonidae species are medium sized with long legs and strong talons.
Barn owls are widely distributed across the globe, inhabiting every continent except Antarctica. They are often found in open habitats like grasslands, farmlands, and savannas. As their name suggests, they commonly select manufactured structures in which to live, with silos, water tanks, church towers, and barns being favored sites. While they have had many names like church owl, ghost owl, white owl and hissing owl, the name Barn owl stuck, due to the familiarity many would have had with barns at the time of budding taxonomy.
Their plumage is often pale, with white or golden tones, (indeed, the scientific name for Barn owl is Tyto alba, where the latter word means white in Latin) helping them blend into light-colored environments. Unlike most owls, Barn owls emit eerie screeches rather than the classic “hoot.” While all owls possess exceptional hearing due to their facial discs that funnel sound to their asymmetrical ears, a Barn owl’s heart-shaped disc gives them an unrivalled ability to accurately pinpoint a rodent’s location under snow or dense vegetation. Other owls in this family are the Ashy-faced owl, the Oriental bay owl, and the Sri Lanka bay owl.
Strigidae: The True Owls
Known as the true or typical owls, the Strigidae family includes a much broader variety with over 200 species found in forests, deserts, tundra, and urban areas worldwide. This naturally leads to a wide range of sizes and adaptations, but the one thing that unites them all is their round facial discs. Many species also have prominent ear tufts, though these “ears” are actually feathers used for camouflage and communication.
Strigidae owls can range from the tiny elf owl, just a few inches tall, to massive eagle owls with wingspans exceeding six feet. The Great Horned Owl is known as the “tiger of the sky,” as this apex predator can take down prey as large as skunks or rabbits. Its distinctive hoots are a hallmark of North American wilderness. Similarly, Barred Owls are famous for their distinctive “Who cooks for you?” call, heard by many a hiker and outdoor enthusiast as they inhabit dense forests across North America.
Unlike its tree-dwelling cousins and as the name suggests, burrowing owls live in underground tunnels; however, they can’t actually dig these tunnels themselves. Instead, they rely on foxes, badgers, and ground squirrels to do all the challenging work for them. Found in open grasslands, they are also diurnal, meaning they hunt at dawn, during the day and at dusk, and can often be seen standing outside its burrow.
On a trip to Africa, Owen managed to see the African Barred Owlet, a small owl known for its intricate barred plumage and melodic whistling calls, and they can be frequently seen on open perches even in the daytime, looking out for small mammals, other birds, reptiles, frogs; they may be little, but they have no fear even taking on scorpions.
Owl eye color often indicates their hunting habits. The yellower an owls’ eyes are, the more likely they are to hunt during the day. As they become more orange, they will be crepuscular hunters, active at dawn and dusk, and the majority of species will have dark eyes signifying nocturnal hunting, i.e., primarily at night, although hunger will drive these species to head out in the day as well.
Using their razor-sharp talons and powerful beaks to catch and kill prey quickly, owls are carnivorous, with a diet that includes rodents, insects, and even fish, with larger animals like the Great Horned Owl feasting on rabbits or snakes. Owls swallow their prey whole or in large chunks, and a specialized digestion system does the rest: after swallowing, food passes into the crop, a pouch where it is stored and softened. In the stomach, digestible parts like muscle and soft tissue are broken down for nutrients, but then the indigestible parts such as bones, fur, and feathers are compacted into pellets and regurgitated several hours after eating. These pellets can be found at the foot of trees and other perches and are considered treasured items to many, as they can be studied to learn about owl diets – under a little water, the pellet can be softened again, revealing tiny intact skeletons and other features of their unfortunate prey.
While many species are widespread and have stable populations, habitat loss is the leading threat to owls, as forests and grasslands are cleared for agriculture and urban development, and secondary poisoning from rodenticides also significantly impacts owl populations. Owls are incredibly diverse and resilient birds, yet many species face challenges that require our attention, and conservation efforts such as protected areas, nest box programs, and reducing pesticide use are among the measures helping some owl species recover. Across the globe, the ongoing survival of these unique creatures depends on our commitment to conserving their habitats and ensuring a balanced ecosystem, allowing these two fine families to thrive in peace.
