Barn Owls

If you see a white owl swooping in front of your car at night, it is almost certainly a Barn Owl. These beautiful birds appear white at night, but they are actually white breasted, with other plumage all shades of orange and golden-orange with a little grey, and even a little black. Barn Owls are widely distributed round the world, with sub species in Europe, North and South America, Africa, Arabia, India and south-east Asia and Australia. Barn Owls in the south of Europe are lighter in colour than those in the north, our species is Tyto alba alba.

We have two Barn Owls here at the Animalarium, they are both hand reared females, and occasionally will lay an egg. Barn Owls are often kept as pets and because they will breed readily in an aviary, they are quite cheap to buy. They also often become unwanted pets, because they are long lived, an owl in captivity can live for thirty years, quite long enough for the owner to become bored with it. There is a programme now for reintroducing captive owls back into the wild, but this has to be done very carefully, ensuring that no wild owls are present, as owls are very territorial, and will drive off strangers in their patch. Many areas have no Barn Owls, due to a decline in wild populations in the past.

Wild Barn Owls are protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981), and only those birds which have been ringed at birth are allowed to be kept or sold as pets.
ion recognition daysbelgium economy partnershighest iq testfalmouth ky psychics and astrologerspast life therapy in ncblack dahlia death dateacs lung cancer facts