Barn Owl
Learn to identify the Barn Owl by ear. Master the "banshee scream" phrase and tell it apart from similar species.
What the Barn Owl sounds like
A medium-sized owl with a distinctive heart-shaped white face, dark eyes, and a mix of golden-buff and gray on the upperparts. Underparts are pale with fine spots. Lacks ear tufts. Often seen silently flying over fields at night or roosting in barns and other structures by day. Known for its eerie, rasping screech.
“banshee scream”
How to tell it apart
Lessons featuring the Barn Owl
Ready to test your ear? Practice identifying the Barn Owl's sounds in this interactive in-app lesson.
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Where you'll hear it
Open habitats such as farmland, grasslands, marshes, deserts, and suburbs—generally needs open areas for hunting and cavities (natural hollows, barns, church steeples, nest boxes) for nesting. Found across the U.S. in suitable habitat, but sensitive to cold climates with deep snow (scarcer in far north).
Nocturnal (occasionally crepuscular). Roosts by day in dark cavities (barn rafters, tree holes). Breeding season timing varies with climate—generally spring in temperate areas, but can breed anytime if food abundant. Pairs may have multiple broods in warm regions. During breeding, males and females perform screeching duets and males may do fluttering display flights. In winter, non-breeding period, they continue to hunt nightly; in harsh cold/snow, many may perish or move to find better conditions.
Similar species
Eastern Screech-Owl (light morph)
Eastern Screech-Owls (red or gray morph) are much smaller, have ear tufts, and yellow eyes. A pale gray morph screech-owl might superficially seem light-colored, but its face is not heart-shaped and it has a very stocky, small build.