American Barn Owl - BirdForum Opus

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Tyto furcata

Distribution

Found in North America, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and Galapagos.

Taxonomy

One of three species formerly considered one under the name of Barn Owl.

Ashy-faced Owl was formerly considered a part of what is now American Barn Owl.

Subspecies

Clements recognizes these subspecies[1]:

• T. a. pratincola: Southern Canada to northern Mexico, Bermuda, Bahamas and Hispaniola
• T. a. guatemalae: Western Guatemala to Panama, Pearl Islands and Colombia
• T. a. bondi: Bay Islands off northern Honduras (Roatán and Guanaja)
• T. a. contempta: West Colombia to Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru
• T. a. hellmayri: Guianas to northern Brazil, Margarita Island, Trinidad and Tobago
• T. a. tuidara: Brazil south of the Amazon to Tierra del Fuego and Falkland Islands
• T. a. furcata: Cuba, Cayman Islands and Jamaica
• T. a. bargei: Curaçao
• T. a. insularis: St. Vincent, Bequia, Union, Carriacou and Grenada
• T. a. nigrescens: Dominica (Lesser Antilles)
• T. a. punctatissima: Galapagos Islands

The birds in the Lesser Antilles (insularis and nigrescens) are placed in Ashy-faced Owl by IOC[2].

Populations in Curacao, Lesser Antilles, and Galapagos]] have been proposed split as full species[3].

Behaviour

In Florida, the local population is particularly strong in an area almost exclusively growing sugar cane, and the main food elements are Cotton Rats, Rice Rats, and Black Rats from these fields and House Mouse from the general area. The prey population drops strongly when the sugar cane is harvested, and Barn Owls that suddenly find themselves in a harvested area have lower nesting success than owls where the harvest happens after the young have fledged[4].

References

1. Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, M. Smith, and C. L. Wood. 2024. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2024. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2024. IOC World Bird List (v 14.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.14.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/

König, C. and F. Weick (2008). Owls of the world, second edition. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 9780713665482

1. Martin et al. 2010. Temporal instability of agricultural habitat reduces reproductive success of Barn Owls (Tyto alba) AUK 127:909-916 (study area in Florida)

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) American Barn Owl. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 April 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/American_Barn_Owl

External Links

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