Owl facts

• Owl necks are remarkably flexible – and they can rotate their heads 270 degrees in any direction.¹
• Just like cats cough up hairballs, owls spit up pellets. Studying these can give you a fair idea of an owl’s diet.²
• A dangerous time in a young owl’s life is when it leaves its parents' nest (called juvenile dispersal). Survival rates are as low as 20–28% for some species.³
• Some species of owls form special bonds and tend to mate for life, a rare trait among birds.⁴
• Male snowy owls fluff out their feathers and glide smoothly and gracefully through the air to attract their mate’s attention – a move called the “sky dance”.⁵

Owl species vary in appearance, but they generally share a few characteristics. They have stout, strong bodies that are covered in soft feathers. They have large, round heads – with equally large and round eyes. Like other birds of prey (eagles, hawks, falcons), their eyes face forwards, giving them excellent vision to pinpoint prey. They also share some impressive weaponry: a sharp hooked beak and four talons on each foot.⁶

A key difference between owls and other predatory birds is their face. Eagles and hawks have angular, streamlined heads, while owls have a flat face (a ‘facial disk’) that can be circular or heart-shaped.⁷ Some owls even have tufts of feathers on the top of their heads that look like ears (like batman’s mask) but they aren’t related to hearing.⁸ The colour of an owl’s feathers varies between species but is generally similar to the environment it lives in, allowing them to camouflage with their surroundings. Snowy owls (arctic) have white feathers, burrowing owls (desert) have brown feathers, and the great horned owl (forests) has striped feathers of beige and dark brown.⁹ 

If you’re walking through the woods at night and hear a low, rhythmic “hooting” sound – chances are you’ve heard an owl. It’s an iconic, mysterious call that some would describe as calming, and others as scary. If you haven’t heard it in the wild, you’ve definitely come across it in films and television shows. Beyond “hooting”, different species of owls make a variety of different sounds. Barn owl calls sound more like screaming (not something you want to hear at night), and Eastern screech owls sound like a whinnying horse.¹⁰  
 
Owls use their vocalisations to communicate, just like us.¹¹ It can indicate that an owl is looking for a mate, foraging for food – or staking out its territory (many species are highly territorial!)¹² Burrowing owls can even hiss like a rattlesnake, which can help them scare off predators.¹³

No, owls do not hibernate.¹⁴ To understand why, let’s look at what drives animals to hibernate. In winter, many species lose their primary source of food (like insects and plants). At the same time, cold winter temperatures mean that animals must expend much more energy to stay warm and survive. Instead, they hibernate. They build up fat stores in the autumn, find a warm place to rest and dramatically slow down their metabolism – reducing the amount of energy they use. This way, they can make it through the winter, reemerging and becoming active when food becomes available and temperatures rise.

Owls, on the other hand, are adapted to stay active year-round. First, their dense, soft feathers offer excellent insulation – trapping body heat and allowing them to stay warm, even at sub-zero temperatures. Secondly, owls are excellent hunters, even in winter.¹⁵ Using their keen sense of hearing, they can locate prey (like rodents) beneath the snow. This gives them a reliable food source, something many hibernating animals can’t rely on. Evidence of these hunts is sometimes left behind in beautiful imprints in the snow. They look like a shallow, round depression with a clear outline of outstretched wings and feather tips, often forming a ghostly, symmetrical pattern. In the centre, you may see marks where the owl’s talons struck, showing exactly where it grabbed its prey. 

The amount of food an owl eats, and the frequency of its meals, largely depends on the species and where it lives, but they generally eat a lot! A study of four owl species in captivity (great horned owl, long-eared owl, burrowing owl and barn owl) found that they ate between around five and 16 percent of their body weight every day.¹⁶ For a human weighing 80kg, that would be like eating 5–13kg of food. Scientists estimate that wild owls are likely to eat even more than captive ones, as they expend much more energy. 

Barn owls are voracious. They typically consume 3–4 prey items a night. When rearing their young, parents feed the owlets similar amounts, which means they hunt nearly 4,000 prey items every year to feed themselves and their growing families.¹⁷ 

Snowy owls, which hunt continuously during the long daylight hours of the Arctic summer, are reported to consume more than 1,600 lemmings annually.¹⁸

While some owls tear their prey into strips, many swallow it whole – bones, fur, feathers included. Because owls cannot digest these parts of their prey, they regurgitate them instead. Their bodies compress the indigestible parts – the sharp bones, teeth, and claws into an oval mass called a pellet, which is then regurgitated. Scientists study owl pellets to learn more about their diets.¹⁹  

Like all birds, owls lay eggs – although the number can vary depending on the species. Great horned owls lay 1–4 eggs, barn owls 4–6, and burrowing owls 6–12.²⁰ The number of eggs is affected by environmental conditions, but prey availability is the most important. Changing the number of eggs laid is a flexible strategy that helps maximise the chance of raising healthy owlets.  
 
For barn owls, the main breeding season arrives as the weather gets warmer, from ​March to August.  Once there is enough prey available, eggs are laid every 1–4 days.  During the incubation period (8–21 days from when the first egg is laid), the mother owl sits on the eggs to keep them warm. She parts the feathers on her belly, so she can transfer even more warmth to her developing chicks.  The fledglings hatch every few days, instead of all at once, to maximise their chances of survival.²¹

A major threat to owl eggs is poisoning. In many places, especially developed urban areas, people use poison to control rodent populations.²² If an adult owl catches and eats a poisoned rodent, it can seriously harm the embryo developing inside them. Sometimes, the embryo will die before it has a chance to hatch.²³

Yes, most owl species are nocturnal, which means they are active at night and rest during the day. Owls are so well-known for this behaviour, that we use it to describe ourselves: being a “night-owl” means you prefer to stay up late. Being nocturnal is an evolutionary adaptation that gives owls a few different advantages. First is that many of an owl’s preferred prey are also active at night, and there are fewer predators. The cover of darkness also helps owls be stealthier – improving their chances of a successful hunt. Another key factor is that hunting at night reduces competition with diurnal (active during the day) birds of prey, like hawks and eagles.  
 
Owls have a few adaptations that make them especially suited for night-time. Their heads are a great example; their structure is optimized for two critical senses – hearing and vision. In up to a third of owl species (especially those that hunt in dense forests at night), their large ear openings are placed asymmetrically on the left and right sides of their head.²⁴ Because the ears are set at different heights and angles on the head, sounds reach each ear at slightly different times and intensities. The owl's brain compares these tiny differences to accurately locate prey, even in complete darkness or under snow or foliage.

Also noticeable on owl heads are their large eyes. Specially adapted to see even in the darkest conditions, their eyes have large corneas (the transparent dome that sits over the iris and pupil). This helps gather and funnel light onto the retina, where incredibly light-sensitive cells process visual information.²⁵
 
Not all species of owl are nocturnal. A few, like the burrowing owl or the hawk owl, are more active during the day. The snowy owl is a particularly interesting case. Because it lives in the arctic, where daylight can last a full 24 hours in the summer, it needs to hunt even when the cover of darkness isn’t available.  

Yes, many owl species, such as barn owls, great grey owls, burrowing owls, tawny owls and barred owls, form a special bond and mate for life.²⁶ Bonded pairs stay together for multiple breeding seasons, a trait that is relatively rare, both among birds and animals in general. This behaviour has some advantages – a pair that mates for life can reuse the same nesting sites and coordinate tasks like defending territory and feeding chicks. It also means that once bonded, pairs avoid repeating lengthy or risky courtship behaviours each year, saving time and effort. 

Courtship is an important time for mating owls and involves different behaviours that signal readiness to mate and builds the bond between a pair. One of the most common is duet calls. Males often initiate with a mating call (a ‘hoot’ in some species) and are joined by a nearby female, forming a duet.²⁷ Males also provide food offerings to females, demonstrating how they will be able to provide for her and any potential chicks in the future.²⁸

​​​​Some species also have elaborate flight displays. Male snowy owls fly in a wide looping pattern called the “sky dance”. They hold their wings in a V-pattern and sometimes clap them together to make a sound. After landing, he may bow down or fan his tail feathers to bring the performance to a close. ²⁹
 
Once bonded, mating owls spend a great deal of time together. One ritual, called “allopreening”, involves owls preening (tidying and cleaning) each other’s feathers and sharing food.³⁰

In popular culture, owls are often portrayed as intelligent, learned or thoughtful. This could be a product of a few different factors. In Ancient Greece, owls were associated with the goddess Athena (the goddess of wisdom) – linking them symbolically with intelligence. Owls are also mysterious and often solitary, reinforcing the perception that they are perched on branches in quiet contemplation.

Measuring animal intelligence is difficult, and scientists usually evaluate it by assessing a species’ problem-solving abilities, social learning, complexity of communication, tool use or memory and spatial navigation (to name a few). Owls do have some problem-solving abilities, such as adjusting hunting strategies based on past outcomes, and they do have excellent memory and spatial awareness too. However, they lack complex communication and social learning (they do not learn new behaviours from each other). Although most owls do not use tools, one example has been observed. In 2004, scientists discovered that burrowing owls placed mammalian dung outside their burrows to attract dung beetles, resulting in a tenfold increase in the number of beetles they consumed.³¹ There is some debate in the scientific community as to whether this counts as true tool-use – what do you think?

It is fair to say that owls are intelligent, but it is a kind of intelligence suited to an “instinct-driven”, solitary and nocturnal predator. They are not good at solving puzzles like crows are – a species of bird that most people consider “smart”.  

Owls nest in various locations depending on the species and the availability of suitable habitats.  Owls are highly adaptable; many species use existing structures like old nests of other birds, tree cavities, rock crevices, or even human-made structures such as abandoned buildings. Great grey owls prefer rocky outcrops or tree stumps and barn owls can be found nesting on cliffs, in crevices or inside caves. Scientists believe that while male owls find the territories to nest, it’s the female owl that decides where the actual nest will go.³²

Barn owls, especially, aren’t picky about their nests. In habitats where there is a great deal of environmental degradation, nesting boxes set out by charity organisations have made ideal nesting grounds for barn owls.³³

Owls have been known to attack humans, usually in self-defence or when they perceive a threat to their young or their territory. While incidents of serious injury are uncommon, owls have been known to take people by surprise, sometimes leaving minor scratches or causing alarm. For example, in 2015, reports from Salem, Oregon, described a barred owl swooping down on joggers and stealing their hats, whipping them off their heads. While no one was seriously hurt, the incident did startle the joggers. The behaviour of the owl was attributed to it becoming overprotective of its territory due to it being nesting season.³⁴ Similar events have been recorded in other parts of the world, though they remain rare.³⁵ When an owl claims its territory, it’s best to leave it alone. 

Sleep patterns among owls vary depending on the species. Since most owl species are nocturnal, they sleep during the day and are active at night. Generally, owls sleep for ten to twelve hours, perched in an upright position, which can help them camouflage into their surroundings.³⁶ Baby owls lie down on their bellies (not dissimilar to human infants), a more comfortable position for the young birds because they do not have to support the weight of their heads and bodies.³⁷

Of 227 species of typical or true owls (belonging to the family Stringidae), 24 are classified as Vulnerable, 13 as Endangered, and three as Critically Endangered. Species requiring immediate conservation include the Eurasian eagle-owl, the Forest owlet, Blakiston’s Fish owl and the Pernambuco Pygmy-owl. 

The biggest threat to most endangered owl species is habitat loss. As urban development and agriculture degrade the forest and jungle habitats that owls call home, their access to food and shelter is becoming scarcer. Extreme cases of this trend can be seen in owls restricted to specific islands – like the Moheli scops-owl and Seychelle scops owl. With limited space on the small islands where they live, mass deforestation, urban development, and the introduction of invasive species and predators has severely reduced their numbers. Today, scientists estimate that fewer than 260 individuals of either species remain.³⁸ Without immediate conservation action, they will likely go extinct.  

Featured image © James Toose | Unsplash

Fun fact image © Zdenek Machacek | Unsplash

Quick facts:

1. World Of Owls. “Food and Hunting - World of Owls.” World of Owls - Northern Ireland’s Only Owl, Bird of Prey and Exotic Animal Centre, December 2, 2014. http://www.worldofowls.com/food-and-hunting;

2. World Of Owls. “Food and Hunting - World of Owls.” World of Owls - Northern Ireland’s Only Owl, Bird of Prey and Exotic Animal Centre, December 2, 2014. http://www.worldofowls.com/food-and-hunting;

3. “Owl Facts: Barn Owl Food Chain.” The Barn Owl Trust, April 24, 2024. https://www.barnowltrust.org.uk/owl-facts-for-kids/owl-food-chain;

4. “Owl Facts: Barn Owl Food Chain.” The Barn Owl Trust, April 24, 2024. https://www.barnowltrust.org.uk/owl-facts-for-kids/owl-food-chain;  “Exploring What Owls Eat: A Look Inside an Owl Pellet : NYC Parks,” n.d. https://www.nycgovparks.org/learn/wildlife-in-new-york-city/exploring-w…;

5. “Northern Pygmy Owl | Friends of Cortes Island,” n.d. https://www.friendsofcortes.org/species-at-risk/northern-pygmy-owl;

6. The Barn Owl Trust. “Barn Owl Life Expectancy - the Barn Owl Trust,” April 29, 2024. https://www.barnowltrust.org.uk/barn-owl-facts/barn-owl-life-expectancy; Silver, Tristan. “How Long Do Owls Live? (Owl Lifespans Explained).” Avibirds.com, June 7, 2023. https://avibirds.com/how-long-do-owls-live;

7. Buscher, Linda & Dr. Dick. “Photos of the World’s Smallest (and Cutest) Owl.” livescience.com, February 5, 2019. https://www.livescience.com/64612-photos-elf-owls.html;

8. JAPAN DREAMSCAPES. “Lake Akanko Birding - Blakiston’s Fish Owl an Ainu Kamuy,” n.d. https://www.japandreamscapes.com/blog-post/lake-akanko-birding-blakisto…;

9. “Elf Owl (MicratheneWhitneyi) - Information, Pictures, Sounds - the Owl Pages.” The Owl Pages, n.d.https://www.owlpages.com/owls/species.php?s=2230;

10. Jones, Jennifer. “5 Largest Owls in the World.” Largest.org, November 26, 2018. https://largest.org/animals/owls;

11. Owlresearchinstitute. “About Owls I Owl Research Institute,” n.d. https://www.owlresearchinstitute.org/owls-1;

12. BirdLife International (BirdLife International). “IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: StrixUralensis.” IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, April 12, 2021. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22689108/199908915;

13. “Demography and Populations - Barred Owl - Strix Varia - Birds of the World”, n.d.https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/brdowl/cur/demography;

14. American Bird Conservancy. “Snowy Owl - American Bird Conservancy,” February 8, 2023. https://abcbirds.org/bird/snowy-owl;

15. BirdLife International. “Owls - BirdLife International,” November 1, 2021. https://www.birdlife.org/birds/owls.

Main fact file:

1.  “How Owls Twist Their Heads Almost 360 Degrees.” Animals, May 8, 2013.   https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/how-owls-twist-heads…

2. “Exploring What Owls Eat: A Look Inside an Owl Pellet : NYC Parks,” n.d. https://www.nycgovparks.org/learn/wildlife-in-new-york-city/exploring-w…..

3. “Dispersal Movements and Survival Rates of Juvenile Mexican Spotted Owls in Northern Arizona on JSTOR.” Www.Jstor.Org, n.d. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4163930.

4. Owlresearchinstitute. “About Owls I Owl Research Institute,” n.d. https://www.owlresearchinstitute.org/owls-1.

5. “Snowy Owl | the Peregrine Fund,” n.d. https://peregrinefund.org/explore-raptors-species/owls/snowy-owl

6. Lewis, Deane. “Owl Feet & Talons - the Owl Pages.” The Owl Pages, n.d. https://www.owlpages.com/owls/articles.php?a=9

7. Owlresearchinstitute. “About Owls I Owl Research Institute,” n.d. https://www.owlresearchinstitute.org/owls-1

8. Owl Research Institute. “Adaptations.” Owl Research Institute. Accessed June 6, 2025. https://www.owlresearchinstitute.org/adaptations#:~:text=Tufts%20are%20…

9. “Snowy Owl Identification, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology,” n.d. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snowy_Owl; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Forensics Lab. “The Feather Atlas - Feather Identification and Scans - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Forensics Laboratory,” n.d. https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/feather.php?Bird=GHOW_primary_dark; Cosier, Susan. “Owl Populations Change Color as the World Warms.” Audubon, February 21, 2023. https://www.audubon.org/news/owl-populations-change-color-world-warms

10. McLendon, Russell. “8 Owls You Might Hear at Night & Their Haunting Calls.” Treehugger, n.d. https://www.treehugger.com/owls-you-might-hear-night-4868764.

11. “Great Horned Owl Sounds, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology,”n.d.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Great_Horned_Owl/sounds

12. Editor. “Why Do Owls Hoot? - Bird Informer.” Bird Informer (blog), May 11, 2023. https://www.birdinformer.com/why-do-owls-hoot

13. Rowe, Matthew P., Richard G. Coss, and Donald H. Owings. “Rattlesnake Rattles and Burrowing Owl Hisses: A Case of Acoustic Batesian Mimicry.” Ethology 72, no. 1 (January 12, 1986): 53–71. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1986.tb00605.x.

14. Sparks, Robert. “Do Owls Hibernate or Migrate? What You Need to Know!” Optics Mag, January 23, 2023. https://opticsmag.com/do-owls-hibernate-or-migrate/.

15. Owlmontana. “OWLS: Life in the Cold.” Owlresearchinstitute (blog), March 7, 2019. https://www.owlresearchinstitute.org/single-post/2019/03/07/owls-life-i…

16. Marti, C. D. (1973). Food consumption and pellet formation rates in four owl species. Wilson Bulletin, 85(2), 178–181

17. The Barn Owl Trust. “Barn Owl Hunting and Feeding - the Barn Owl Trust,” October 9, 2024. https://www.barnowltrust.org.uk/barn-owl-facts/barn-owl-hunting-feeding/.

18. “Snowy Owl Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology,” n.d.      https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snowy_Owl/overview.

19. BirdNote. “What Is an Owl Pellet?” Audubon, September 9, 2024. https://www.audubon.org/news/what-owl-pellet

20. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “Bird Cams FAQ: Great Horned Owl Nest.” All About Birds. Last modified January 24, 2022. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/bird-cams-faq-great-horned-owl-nest/…

21. “Owl Box LIVE: Egg Laying and Hatching - Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust,” n.d. https://www.gwct.org.uk/blogs/news/2021/may/owl-box-live-egg-laying-and…

22. Berman, Ali. “Northern Spotted Owl Found on Mt. Tabor Died Due to Rodent Poison  - Bird Alliance of Oregon.” Bird Alliance of Oregon, February 12, 2024. https://birdallianceoregon.org/blog/northern-spotted-owl-found-on-mt-ta…

23. Planet Education. “Threats to the Barn Owl.” n.d. https://betterplaneteducation.org.uk/factsheets/owl-barn-threats-to-the…

24. Ponder, Julia B., and Michelle M. Willette. “Strigiformes.” In Fowler's Zoo and Wild Animal Medicine, Volume 8, edited by R. Eric Miller and Murray E. Fowler, 189–198. W.B. Saunders, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-4557-7397-8.00023-2.

25. Ponder, Julia B., and Michelle M. Willette. “Strigiformes.” In Fowler's Zoo and Wild Animal Medicine, Volume 8, edited by R. Eric Miller and Murray E. Fowler, 189–198. W.B. Saunders, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-4557-7397-8.00023-2.

26. Ponder, Julia B., and Michelle M. Willette. “Strigiformes.” In Fowler's Zoo and Wild Animal Medicine, Volume 8, edited by R. Eric Miller and Murray E. Fowler, 189–198. W.B. Saunders, 2015 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9781455773978000…

27. Slaght, Jonathan C. “A Duet of Fish Owls.” Scientific American, February 20, 2024. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-duet-of-fish-owls/

28. Lewis, Deane. “Owl Breeding & Reproduction - the Owl Pages.” The Owl Pages, n.d.https://www.owlpages.com/owls/articles.php?a=11#:~:text=The%20male%20wi…

29. Owlresearchinstitute. “Journey With the Snowy Owl I Owl Research Institute,” n.d. https://www.owlresearchinstitute.org/snowy-owls-take-the-journey

30. Roulin, A., B. Des Monstiers, E. Ifrid, A. Da Silva, E. Genzoni, and A. N. Dreiss. “Reciprocal preening and food sharing in colour‐polymorphic nestling barn owls.” Journal of Evolutionary Biology 29, no. 2 (n.d.): 380–94. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.12793

31. Levey, Douglas J., R. Scot Duncan, and Carrie F. Levins. "Animal Behaviour: Use of Dung as a Tool by Burrowing Owls." Nature 431, no. 7004 (2004): 39. https://doi.org/10.1038/431039a.

32. Owlresearchinstitute. “About Owls I Owl Research Institute,” n.d. https://www.owlresearchinstitute.org/owls-1

33. The Barn Owl Trust. “Barn Owl Boxes for Trees - the Barn Owl Trust,” February 24, 2025. https://www.barnowltrust.org.uk/barn-owl-nestbox/owl-boxes-for-trees/

34. Reporter, Guardian Staff. “Owl Attacks Joggers and Steals Their Hats.” The Guardian, October 29, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/feb/06/owl-attacks-joggers…

35. Hewitt, Scott. “When Owls Attack! Vancouver Jogger Lost Hat to ‘Swooping,’ a Rare Event Committed by Protective Birds.” The Columbian, February 20, 2024.      https://www.columbian.com/news/2024/feb/20/when-owls-attack-vancouver-j…

36. A‑Z Animals, “How Do Owls Sleep?” A‑Z Animals, accessed June 6, 2025, https://a-z-animals.com/blog/how-do-owls-sleep/

37. Audubon. “How Baby Owls Nap Without Falling From Their Trees,” September 9, 2024. https://www.audubon.org/news/how-baby-owls-nap-without-falling-their-tr…

38. Earth.Org, “6 Endangered Owl Species in 2023,” Earth.Org, May 15, 2023, https://earth.org/endangered-owl-species/