Tyto alba tylluan wen detail🐦

Photo: User:Alun Williams333 · CC BY-SA 4.0

SpeciesStrigiformesTytonidae
Birds

🐦Western Barn Owl

Tyto alba (Scopoli, 1769)

The western barn owl 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.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
567
Photos
1
Measurements
12
vs you
≈ 1/150th of your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2025.

Population trendUnknown
Key measurements
Body mass
0.4 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
34 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Western Barn Owl

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
0.4 kg
AVONET
Other figures ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 0.58 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Tail length
0.12 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Wing length
0.28 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Beak length
0.03 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Tarsus length
0.06 m
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
34 years
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Gestation
33 days
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Litter size
about 6
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
Carnivore
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Habitat
Human Modified
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Lifestyle
Insessorial
AVONET
Details ↓

Source: AVONET · v1.1 (Tobias et al. 2022) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
0.4 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Western Barn Owl yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classAves
  4. ›orderStrigiformes
  5. ›familyTytonidae
  6. ›genusTyto
  7. ›speciesTyto alba
Full lineage
  1. classBirds · Aves
  2. orderOwls · Strigiformes
  3. familyTytonidae
  4. genusTyto
All 12 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. classBirds · Aves
  10. orderOwls · Strigiformes
  11. familyTytonidae
  12. genusTyto
More

More about the Western Barn Owl

Closest relative on this site
🐦 Black Woodpecker — last shared an ancestor ≈ 78 million years ago.
In other languages
kerkuil (nl), Effraie des clochers (fr), 仓鸮 (zh), płomykówka zwyczajna (pl), Tyto alba (es), gyöngybagoly (hu) … and 28 more languages

Animals caught on camera

Real footage of the animals on this site — hunting, fighting, and getting on with it.

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