The western barn owl (Tyto alba) is a species of barn owl native to Europe, southwestern Asia, and Africa. It was formerly considered a subspecies group together with barn owls native to other parts of the world, but this classification was found to be paraphyletic with respect to some other members of the genus.
The plumage on the head and back is a mottled shade of grey or brown; that on the underparts varies from white to brown and is sometimes speckled with dark markings. The facial disc is characteristically large and heart-shaped, with white plumage in most subspecies. This owl does not hoot, but utters an eerie, drawn-out screech.
The western barn owl is nocturnal over most of its range, but in Great Britain, it also hunts by day. Barn owls specialise in hunting animals on the ground, and nearly all of their food consists of small mammals, which they locate by sound, their hearing being very acute. The owls usually mate for life unless one of the pair is killed, whereupon a new pair bond may be formed. Breeding takes place at varying times of the year, according to the locality, with a clutch of eggs, averaging about four in number, being laid in a nest in a hollow tree, old building, or fissure in a cliff. When large numbers of small prey are readily available, barn owl populations can expand rapidly, and globally the barn owl is listed Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Some subspecies with restricted ranges are more threatened.
Taxonomy The western barn owl was formally described in 1769 by the Italian naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli under the binomial name Strix alba. The type locality is the Friuli area of northeast Italy. The specific epithet is from Latin albus meaning "white"; the species being much more extensively white than other owls known to Scopoli. This owl is now placed in the genus Tyto that was introduced in 1828 by the Swedish naturalist Gustaf Johan Billberg.
Until 2016–2018, the species Tyto alba was treated in a much broader sense, including barn owls throughout much of the world, but this arrangement was found by two studies to show deep genetic divergences and to be paraphyletic with respect to some other members of the genus, notably the ashy-faced owl Tyto glaucops from the Caribbean. This led to the breakup of the former broad view of Tyto alba into four species, now distinguished separately as the western barn owl T. alba (sensu stricto), the American barn owl T. furcata, the eastern barn owl T. javanica, and the Andaman masked owl T. deroepsdorffi.
The bird is known by many common names that refer to its appearance, call, habitat, or its eerie, silent flight: white owl, silver owl, demon owl, ghost owl, death owl, night owl, rat owl, church owl, cave owl, stone owl, monkey-faced owl, hissing owl, hobgoblin or hobby owl, dobby owl, white-breasted owl, golden owl, screech owl, straw owl, barnyard owl, and delicate owl. "Golden owl" might also refer to the related golden masked owl (T. aurantia). "Hissing owl" and, particularly in the UK, "screech owl" refer to the piercing calls of these birds. The latter name is also applied to a different group of birds, the screech owls in the genus Megascops.
Description
The western barn owl is a medium-sized, pale-coloured owl with long wings and a short, squarish tail. The shape of the tail is a means of distinguishing the barn owl from true owls when seen in the air. Other distinguishing features are the undulating flight pattern and the dangling, feathered legs, which improves its ability to forage among dense foliage or beneath the snow and gives it a wide spread of talons when attacking prey. There is some size variation across the subspecies, with a typical specimen measuring about in overall length, with a wingspan of . The sexes are broadly similar in weight, with females on average slightly heavier than males (typically about 10% heavier), but with considerable overlap. Compared to other owls of similar size, the western barn owl has a much higher metabolic rate, requiring relatively more food. The western barn owl flies silently; tiny serrations on the leading edges of its flight feathers and a hairlike fringe to the trailing edges help to break up the flow of air over the wings, thereby reducing turbulence and the noise that accompanies it. Hairlike extensions to the barbules of its feathers, which give the plumage a soft feel, also minimise noise produced during wingbeats.
The face with its heart shape and black eyes gives the flying bird a distinctive appearance, with oversized, oblique black eye-slits, the ridge of feathers above the bill somewhat resembling a nose.Bruce (1999) pp 34–75, Svensson et al. (1999) pp. 212–213 The species has acute hearing, with ears placed asymmetrically. This improves detection of sound position and distance and the bird does not require sight to hunt. The facial disc plays a part in this process, as is shown by the fact that with the ruff feathers removed, the bird can still locate the source in azimuth but fails to do so in elevation. On average within any one population, males tend to have fewer spots on the underside and are paler in colour than females. It is hypothesised plumage spottiness in female barn owls may signal parasite resistance. Species such as ectoparasitic flies and carnus hemapterus seem to be less abundant on young raised by more heavily spotted females, and is often a trait a male may seek for. In an experiment where clutches were cross-fostered between nests, the amount of the flies collected on nestlings was negatively correlated with the genetic mother's plumage spots. Nestlings are covered in white down, but the heart-shaped facial disk becomes visible soon after hatching.Taylor (2004) p. 169 Both leucistic and melanistic western barn owls have been recorded in the wild and in captivity, with melanistic individuals estimated to occur with odds of 1 out of every 100,000 birds.
Contrary to popular belief, the westernbarn owl does not hoot, but produces a characteristic piercing shree scream, an eerie, long-drawn-out shriek. Males in courtship give a shrill twitter. Both young and old can hiss like a snake to scare away intruders. Other sounds produced include a purring chirrup, denoting pleasure, and a "kee-yak", which resembles one of the vocalisations of the tawny owl. When captured or cornered, the western barn owl throws itself on its back and flails with sharp-taloned feet, making for an effective defence. In such situations, it may emit rasping sounds or clicking snaps, produced probably by the bill but possibly by the tongue.
Geographic variation The western barn owl's head and upper body typically vary between pale brown and some shade of grey, especially on the forehead and back in most subspecies. Some are purer, richer brown instead, and all have fine black-and-white speckles, except on the remiges and rectrices, which are light brown with darker bands. The heart-shaped face is usually bright white, but in some subspecies it is brown. The underparts, including the tarsometatarsal (lower leg) feathers, vary from white to reddish buff among the subspecies and are either mostly unpatterned or bear a varying number of tiny blackish-brown speckles. It has been found that at least in the continental European populations, females with more spotting are healthier than plainer birds. This does not hold true for European males by contrast, where the spotting varies according to subspecies. The bill varies from pale horn to dark buff, corresponding to the general plumage hue, and the iris is blackish brown. The toes, like the bill, vary in colour, ranging from pink to dark pinkish-grey, and the talons are black.
Distribution and habitat The western barn owl is native to most of Europe, West Asia and Africa. The densest clusters are in Western and Central Europe and in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Some smaller clusters are present in East Africa and Madagascar. In Ghana and the wider West African region, it occurs in small scattered pockets. The species was introduced by humans to parts of the Pacific islands and Malaysia to control rat populations. In 2025, the western barn owl was reintroduced to Montjuïc hill in Barcelona as part of the Barcelona Nature Plan and the Climate Plan.
The western barn owl inhabits open wetlands and grasslands, savannas, heathlands and deciduous shrublands up to an elevation of , but also agricultural landscapes and peri-urban areas.
Ten geographical subspecies are currently accepted: Subspecies Description Range Synonyms T. a. alba (Scopoli, 1769) Upperparts grey and light buff. Underparts white, with few if any black spots; males often appear entirely unspotted. Western Europe from the British Isles south to Iberia and the Maghreb, and east along Mediterranean coastal regions to northwestern Turkey in the north and the Nile in the south, where it reaches upstream to northeastern Sudan. Also the Aïr Mountains in the Sahara of Niger, the Balearic Islands and Sicily in the Mediterranean, and the western Canary Islands (El Hierro, La Gomera, La Palma, Gran Canaria, and Tenerife). Intergrades with T. a. guttata from the Balkans through Hungary and along the Rhine and lower Meuse rivers, and with T. a. poensis around the Egypt-Sudan border. common barn owl; includes T. a. hostilis, T. a. kirchhoffi, T. a. kleinschmidti and T. a. pusillus. African populations might belong to T. a. erlangeri. T. a. guttata (C. L. Brehm, 1831) More grey on upperparts than T. a. alba. Underparts buff to rufous with some dark speckles (more than in T. a. alba). Face whitish. Females are on average redder below than males. Central Europe north of the Alps from the Rhine to Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine, and south to Romania, northeastern Greece and the southern Balkans. Intergrades with T. a. alba at the western border of its range. Includes T. a. rhenana. T. a. ernesti (Kleinschmidt, 1901) Similar to T. a. alba; breast region always pure unspotted white. Endemic to Corsica and Sardinia in the Mediterranean. T. a. erlangeri (W. L. Sclater, 1921) Similar to T. a. ernesti; upperparts lighter and yellower. Crete and the southern Aegean islands to Cyprus; the Near and Middle East including the Arabian Peninsula coastlands, south to Sinai and east to the southwestern Iranian Plateau. Might include African populations assigned to T. a. alba. T. a. schmitzi (E. Hartert, 1900) Small. Similar to T. a. guttata, but breast region light buff. Endemic to Madeira and Porto Santo Island in the eastern Atlantic. T. a. gracilirostris (E. Hartert, 1905) Small. Similar to T. a. schmitzi but breast darker, approaching T. a. guttata. Face light buff. Endemic to the eastern Canary Islands (Chinijo Archipelago, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote; perhaps formerly also on Lobos). Canary Islands barn owl T. a. detorta (E. Hartert, 1913) Similar to T. a. guttata, but less reddish. Face buff. Endemic to the Cape Verde Islands. Cape Verde barn owl; sometimes considered a separate species T. a. poensis (Fraser, 1842) Upperparts golden-brown and grey with very bold pattern. Underparts light buff with extensive speckles. Face white. Described from to Bioko in the Gulf of Guinea, but includes all subsaharan African populations T. a. affinis (Blyth, 1862). T. a. thomensis (Hartlaub, 1852) Smallish. Upperparts dark brownish grey with bold pattern, including lighter brown bands on remiges and rectrices. Underparts golden brown with extensive speckles. Face buff. Endemic to São Tomé Island. A record from Príncipe is in error. São Tomé barn owl; sometimes considered a separate species. T. a. hypermetra Grote, 1928 Similar to T. a. poensis, but supposedly lighter on average. Upperparts very grey. Underparts light buff with extensive speckles. Face white. Comoros and Madagascar
Fossil record