Barn Owl vs Eurasian Wren
Tyto alba compared with Troglodytes troglodytes
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Attribute | Barn Owl | Eurasian Wren |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Tyto alba | Troglodytes troglodytes |
| Order | Strigiformes | Passeriformes |
| Family | Tytonidae | Troglodytidae |
| Conservation Status | Least Concern | Least Concern |
| Length | 35.0 cm (13.8 in) | 9.5 cm (3.7 in) |
| Wingspan | 90.0 cm (35.4 in) | 15.0 cm (5.9 in) |
| Weight | 350.0 g (12.35 oz) | 9.0 g (0.32 oz) |
| Diet | Almost exclusively small mammals, especially voles and mice. Hunts using extraordinary hearing to locate prey … | Insects and spiders, gleaned from dense vegetation, rock crevices, and bark. Active and restless forager. |
| Clutch Size | 2-16 | 3-9 |
| Population Trend | — | — |
Size Comparison
Habitat Comparison
Barn Owl
Open farmland, grasslands, and marshes. Nests in barns, church steeples, tree cavities, and purpose-built nest boxes.
Eurasian Wren
Dense undergrowth in woodlands, gardens, hedgerows, and rocky areas. Prefers tangled vegetation close to the ground.
Song & Call Comparison
Barn Owl
An eerie, drawn-out rasping shriek 'shreeeeee' — not a hoot. Also gives hissing, snoring, and bill-snapping when disturbed. Chicks call with a persistent rasping hunger call.
Eurasian Wren
Extraordinarily loud for its tiny size: a rapid, powerful stream of trills, buzzes, and churring phrases. One of Europe's loudest songs by volume relative to body weight.
Geographic Range & Migration
Barn Owl
The most widespread owl and one of the most widespread land birds, found on every continent except Antarctica.
Eurasian Wren
Eurasia from Iceland and western Europe to Japan. The only wren species found outside the Americas.
Conservation Status
Barn Owl
Eurasian Wren
How to Tell Them Apart
Barn Owl
Pale golden-buff upperparts with delicate grey mottling. Pure white heart-shaped face and white to pale buff underparts. Ghostly white appearance in flight.
Pale pinkish hooked bill nearly concealed by the facial disc
Eurasian Wren
Warm rufous-brown upperparts with fine dark barring. Pale buffy underparts with barred flanks. Short, often cocked tail.
Thin, slightly curved, dark brown bill
About These Birds
Barn Owl
The barn owl has the most asymmetrical ears of any owl, giving it the finest auditory localization ability in the animal kingdom. It can catch prey in complete darkness using sound alone. The barn owl's distinctive heart-shaped face acts as a parabolic dish, funneling sound to its offset ears.
Eurasian Wren
The Eurasian wren is one of the smallest birds in Europe but possesses an astonishingly loud song for its size. Males build multiple dome-shaped nests, from which the female selects one to line and use. In British folklore, the wren is known as the king of birds for outwitting the eagle in a flying contest.