Owner Comments:
While this set has featured many raptors so far, sadly it has not had an owl until now. This has bothered me because I love owls and being of a nocturnal inclination myself, they are one of the modern dinosaurs that I relate to the most. Thankfully, this great coin that was a gift from my in-laws solves this problem with one of the coolest owls out there. This is the Barn Owl, species name Tyto alba.
As this is another one of those great colorized coins from Canada, you can see the Barn Owl’s coloration for yourself. This is always better than simply reading a description typed by me, and I will strive to use as many colorized coins as I can in this set for that reason. The Barn Owl is the most widely distributed species of owl, occurring in North and South America, Europe, all of Africa aside from the Sahara Desert, the Middle East, the southernmost part of Asia, Australia and parts of New Guinea. Due to this widespread distribution, there are between 20 and 30 subspecies of this owl, depending on which authority you speak to and they vary in coloration and size. On average, a Barn Owl is between 11 and 17 inches in length, with a wingspan between 27 to 41 inches and a weight between 7.9 to 25 ounces when all subspecies are included in the average. So, these guys aren’t huge, unlike some of the other raptors discussed here. As with most other raptors, the females are larger than the males. Males also have fewer spots and paler plumage than the females.
Another interesting fact is that even though the head of the Barn Owl (and all other owls) appears to be round, this is due to heavy feathering of the head. Underneath all of that plumage, owls have a head shaped like that of other theropod dinosaurs and the Barn Owl is no exception. Like other owls, Barn Owls also have large eyes and a head that can turn 270 degrees. This feature evolved because owls cannot move their eyes, so they needed to find another way to look around and expand their range of vision. Unlike other owls, the Barn Owl does not hoot. Instead, it produces what is described as an eerie shriek. Given that Barn Owls like to nest in empty buildings and other dark places, this dinosaur has probably been responsible for a large number of “paranormal” experiences that humans have reported over the ages.
Like most other owls, the Barn Owl is a nocturnal hunter, though some individuals living on islands in the Pacific and Great Britain have been seen hunting during the day as well. Instead of relying on eyesight to locate prey like diurnal raptors do, the Barn Owl uses its keen sense of hearing to locate its prey. The ears of the Barn Owl, and other owls, are placed asymmetrically on the head, allowing for better detection of sound position and sound distance. They prefer a habitat of open country, such as grasslands and farmlands, and they particularly like to hunt on the edge of forests of rough grasslands. Given that these habitat preferences are often features of cemeteries, there is another arena where the Barn Owl has likely caused some "paranormal" encounters with its eerie cry. Barn Owls, and other owls, fly completely silently. They are able to accomplish this due to a hair-like fringe on the flight feathers which reduces air turbulence.
As for prey, Barn Owls show a strong preference for rodents and other small mammals like bats but they also will eat small birds, lizards, amphibians and insects. Barn Owls hunt by flying slowly over places where prey may hide and listening for the prey to make a sound. Once prey is heard, the Barn Owl will maneuver quickly into a dive and kill the prey animal with its powerful feet and large talons. Since the Barn Owl mostly hunts small prey, most meals are swallowed whole. As with other raptors who swallow prey whole, the Barn Owl will produce pellets to rid itself of the indigestible parts of its meals, such as the bones and fur. Owl pellets are particularly easy to study because they are packed much more tightly than the pellets produced by other predatory dinosaurs, so they are much slower to biodegrade, making them ideal for collecting and studying. Many an elementary school student has had the fascinating experience of dissecting a Barn Owl pellet. I got to do it in third grade and you can probably imagine that I was absolutely thrilled! Barn Owls will also cache surplus food around their territory to provide for lean times. Unlike squirrels, who perform a similar behavior, Barn Owls actually remember where they hide all of this extra food. Squirrels often forget where they bury most of their cached food.
Given the wide range and large number of subspecies, Barn Owls breed at all different times of the year based on location and subspecies. Unlike most other raptors, Barn Owls aren’t particularly territorial, even when breeding. Instead, they have a territory of around 1 kilometer from their nesting site which they use for both home and hunting ground. As with other raptors, Barn Owls mate for life and they usually use the same nesting site within their territory every season. Females are ready to breed at 10 or 11 months of age but males often do not breed until they are over one year of age. Males attract females by perching on high points and emitting their eerie screech until a female expresses interest. Typically, once interest is expressed by a female, a pair bond is formed. The male will then forage and feed the female while she preens and waits for the male. This is an essential part of maintaining the pair bond.
Barn Owls are cavity nesters, preferring to nest in hollows in trees, cavities in cliff faces, and in buildings. They will also use nesting boxes placed out by bird lovers (I wish I could put one of these out myself, but I have so many larger diurnal raptors around my house that I think it would not be an ideal home for a pair of these cute little owls). They use no nesting materials aside from their own pellets, which the female shreds into a warm and soft bedding material for the eggs and young. Sometimes, other bird species will nest and live harmoniously with Barn Owls and benefit from the protection the Barn Owl pair provides from predators. Barn Owls typically lay a clutch of between two and five eggs, which the female incubates for around thirty days, during which she is completely provided for by her mate. Though they lay a large clutch of eggs, not all of them hatch. In a year with plentiful food, a typical hatching rate is 75%.
Baby Barn Owls are born covered in greyish-white down and are absolutely adorable! They grow quickly, being able to hold their heads up and move around the nest within a week of hatching. The male brings food to the nest, which the female tears into small pieces to feed they chicks. By two weeks of age, baby Barn Owls are already half of their adult weight and by three weeks, they begin to grow adult feathers. Once the chicks are four weeks old, the female joins the male in leaving the nest and hunting. By their sixth week, young Barn Owls have reached adult size and they are fully fledged by their ninth week. From their ninth week to their thirteenth week, they are taught to hunt by their mother while they are still fed by their parents. At thirteen weeks, the young are ready to leave their parents and live on their own.
Unlike the other raptors discussed in this set so far, the Barn Owl is not an apex predator as it actually has animals which prey upon it. The main predators of Barn Owls are other raptors, mostly other, larger owls such as the Great Horned Owl, the Eurasian Eagle-Owl, the Verreaux's eagle-owl and the Cape Eagle-Owl. Red-Tailed Hawks, Northern Goshawks, Common Buzzards, Wedge-Tailed Eagles and Golden Eagles are the main non-owl predators of Barn Owls. Mammalian predators such as raccoons and opossums can be a risk to Barn Owl eggs and chicks. If they don’t fall prey to one of these predators or to starvation, a Barn Owl can live for 11 to 17 years in the wild and up to 25 years in captivity.
All in all, our first owl is an interesting addition to this collection of modern dinosaurs. I’m so happy to finally have an owl in the collection!!