Barn Owl
Here is a young Barn Owl emerging from a tree nest a few miles from my home in the West Yorkshire Pennines. The altitude was 200m (c650 feet) above sea level which is relevant as Barn Owls are primarily a lowland owl as they are not good at surviving where there is prolonged snow-cover, like the uplands. So Barn Owls usually only appear on the high ground after a run of mild winters Historically Barn Owls could survive snow by feeding on rats and mice inside barns. But rodenticides and grain silos mean the food isn't as plentiful so their chance of survival in a snowy winter is less. I looked at the populations of the British owls on the BTO website www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/find-a-species and it surprised me. Tawny is the commonest with 50,000 pairs with Barn Owl second at 9000 pairs. Perhaps the next commonest will surprise many as it is Long-eared Owl with 3900 with Little Owl close on its heels with 3600 pairs. Little Owl also surprised me as I expected it to be commoner than Barn Owl as it certainly is near me. Finally comes Short-eared Owl with a quoted population of 1410 pairs. But Short-eared is almost totally dependent on Short-tailed Voles as prey, which have population cycles. So in boom vole years Short-eared Owls can be common while after bust years they are rare.
John Ray wrote the first proper bird book in the English language in 1678 (though he published the same work in Latin two years earlier). There were earlier books that referenced birds, often with a more general natural history theme, but Ray's was the first devoted to birds. In this first bird book Ray gave three names to this species; "The common Barn-Owl, or White-Owl, or Church-Owl". So one name referred to its unique owl colour, and two referred to its habitat preferences. Interestingly Ray gave the name "Ivy-Owl" as an alternative to our Tawny Owl, and I usually find them roosting in Ivy. The next major work on birds was Thomas Pennant in 1768, though it was a more general work on Zoology. Pennant coined the term warbler used for so many of our birds, and he often led the way for the selection of the accepted British name. But Pennant backed the wrong horse in this instance and chose White Owl. Later authors were reluctant to lose Barn Owl and often kept both names, such as William Yarrell in 1843. He listed both names but in his text showed a clear preference for Barn Owl, and the BOU officially adopted Barn Owl in 1883. So that is why a bird that nests freely in holes in trees, nest boxes on posts, and a variety of old buildings, has become linked to barns. Before I leave the names, the name Screech Owl was widely used and pre-dates Ray as it was first used in 1593. And Barn Owl does indeed screech. Have a listen on xeno-canto: www.xeno-canto.org/604167 , but the name Screech Owl has been adopted for different species of owl in America.
Barn Owl
Here is a young Barn Owl emerging from a tree nest a few miles from my home in the West Yorkshire Pennines. The altitude was 200m (c650 feet) above sea level which is relevant as Barn Owls are primarily a lowland owl as they are not good at surviving where there is prolonged snow-cover, like the uplands. So Barn Owls usually only appear on the high ground after a run of mild winters Historically Barn Owls could survive snow by feeding on rats and mice inside barns. But rodenticides and grain silos mean the food isn't as plentiful so their chance of survival in a snowy winter is less. I looked at the populations of the British owls on the BTO website www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/find-a-species and it surprised me. Tawny is the commonest with 50,000 pairs with Barn Owl second at 9000 pairs. Perhaps the next commonest will surprise many as it is Long-eared Owl with 3900 with Little Owl close on its heels with 3600 pairs. Little Owl also surprised me as I expected it to be commoner than Barn Owl as it certainly is near me. Finally comes Short-eared Owl with a quoted population of 1410 pairs. But Short-eared is almost totally dependent on Short-tailed Voles as prey, which have population cycles. So in boom vole years Short-eared Owls can be common while after bust years they are rare.
John Ray wrote the first proper bird book in the English language in 1678 (though he published the same work in Latin two years earlier). There were earlier books that referenced birds, often with a more general natural history theme, but Ray's was the first devoted to birds. In this first bird book Ray gave three names to this species; "The common Barn-Owl, or White-Owl, or Church-Owl". So one name referred to its unique owl colour, and two referred to its habitat preferences. Interestingly Ray gave the name "Ivy-Owl" as an alternative to our Tawny Owl, and I usually find them roosting in Ivy. The next major work on birds was Thomas Pennant in 1768, though it was a more general work on Zoology. Pennant coined the term warbler used for so many of our birds, and he often led the way for the selection of the accepted British name. But Pennant backed the wrong horse in this instance and chose White Owl. Later authors were reluctant to lose Barn Owl and often kept both names, such as William Yarrell in 1843. He listed both names but in his text showed a clear preference for Barn Owl, and the BOU officially adopted Barn Owl in 1883. So that is why a bird that nests freely in holes in trees, nest boxes on posts, and a variety of old buildings, has become linked to barns. Before I leave the names, the name Screech Owl was widely used and pre-dates Ray as it was first used in 1593. And Barn Owl does indeed screech. Have a listen on xeno-canto: www.xeno-canto.org/604167 , but the name Screech Owl has been adopted for different species of owl in America.