General Information

Barn Owls were first sighted in Ohio in 1861. They are not native to Ohio but began to move into the state after forests were cleared and areas of grassland and wetland became more abundant. These habitats are more open, which is necessary for a hunting barn owl, making it their preferred habitat. Populations steadily increased and peaked in the 1930s, making it the second most abundant owl species in Ohio, second only to the Eastern Screech Owl. In the 1940s however, populations started to decline as more farming and clearing of grasslands occurred. Meadow voles compose much of the barn owl's diet and as their habitats disappeared, they too disappeared, and in turn barn owls began to disappear. By the 1960s there were very few nesting barn owls left in the state. Those that remained were being drastically affected by a pesticide called DDT. This chemical affected reproductive success and very few hatchlings occurred during this time. DDT was banned in 1972 and populations have been monitored by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources since the late 1980s using nest box monitoring and bird banding. Populations are not abundant but nesting pairs have increased slightly in recent years. The barn owl remains a threatened species in Ohio.

Meet Our Barn Owls

Three Barn Owls, Castor, Pollux, and Radar, reside in the Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center & Woods Garden (presented by KeyBank) at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Lifespan

Wild: 1-5 years
Captivity: 20-25 years
 

Fun Facts

• Barn Owls, like all owls, are silent fliers. They have “hair-like” feathers on the edges of their wings that dampen the noise as they fly. This allows them to quietly sneak up on prey and dodge predators.
• They have many nicknames. Barn Owls are sometimes called the sweetheart owl due to their heart shaped face. They have also been called the ghost owl because they like to live in dark, abandoned buildings and their call is an eerie scream, not the traditional hoot of some other owls. 
• As many as 75% of young Barn Owls do not survive their first year of life. The young Barn Owl is just learning how to survive and many succumb to starvation or predation at any early age.
• Barn Owls live on a diet of small mammals (especially rodents, bats and rabbits) and less commonly small birds.