Crossword clues for barn owl
barn owl
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Barn \Barn\ (b[aum]rn), n. [OE. bern, AS. berern, bern; bere barley + ern, [ae]rn, a close place. [root]92. See Barley.] A covered building used chiefly for storing grain, hay, and other productions of a farm. In the United States a part of the barn is often used for stables.
Barn owl (Zo["o]l.), an owl of Europe and America ( Aluco flammeus, or Strix flammea), which frequents barns and other buildings.
Barn swallow (Zo["o]l.), the common American swallow ( Hirundo horreorum), which attaches its nest of mud to the beams and rafters of barns.
Wiktionary
n. An owl of the genus ''Tyto'', often having a white face and commonly found in barns and other farm buildings.
WordNet
n. mottled buff and white owl often inhabiting barns and other structures; important in rodent control [syn: Tyto alba]
Wikipedia
The barn owl (Tyto alba) is the most widely distributed species of owl, and one of the most widespread of all birds. It is also referred to as the common barn owl, to distinguish it from other species in its family, Tytonidae, which forms one of the two main lineages of living owls, the other being the typical owls (Strigidae). The barn owl is found almost everywhere in the world except polar and desert regions, Asia north of the Himalayas, most of Indonesia, and some Pacific islands.
Phylogenetic evidence shows that there are at least three major lineages of barn owl, one in Eurasia and Africa, one in Australasia and one in the Americas, and some highly divergent taxa on islands. Some authorities further split the group, recognising up to five species, and further research needs to be done to clarify the position. There is a considerable variation between the sizes and colour of the approximately 28 subspecies but most are between in length with wingspans ranging from . The plumage on head and back is a mottled shade of grey or brown, the underparts vary from white to brown and are sometimes speckled with dark markings. The face is characteristically heart-shaped and is white in most subspecies. This owl does not hoot, but utters an eerie, drawn-out shriek.
The barn owl is nocturnal over most of its range, but in Britain and some Pacific islands, it also hunts by day. Barn owls specialise in hunting animals on the ground and nearly all of their food consists of small mammals which they locate by sound, their hearing being very acute. They mate for life unless one of the pair gets killed, when a new pair bond may be formed. Breeding takes place at varying times of year according to locality, with a clutch, averaging about four eggs, being laid in a nest in a hollow tree, old building or fissure in a cliff. The female does all the incubation, and she and the young chicks are reliant on the male for food. When large numbers of small prey are readily available, barn owl populations can expand rapidly, and globally the bird is considered to be of least conservation concern. Some subspecies with restricted ranges are more threatened.
Barn Owl is an American experimental musical duo from San Francisco, California.
Usage examples of "barn owl".
Donner warns the hijackers not to come by faking the screech of the barn owl.
Looking round again, he saw a barn owl, its pale, heart-shaped face shining in a patch of moonlight.
She kept her back to Harry all the time he was tying his letter to the leg of a large barn owl.
When the barn owl had flown off, Harry reached out to stroke Hedwig, but she clicked her beak furiously and soared up into the rafters out of reach.
He spotted it at once: a dazed and ruffled-looking barn owl was sitting outside on the kitchen sill, having just collided with the closed window.
A barn owl flew almost silently toward the ruined church, where it alighted on the belfry with an eerie cry.
For all his love of the animal world--or perhaps because of it--Doc felt he deserved as much as the Red Fox or the Barn Owl to be a carnivore, if it was in his nature to be so.