Barn Owl vs Great Cormorant
Tyto alba compared with Phalacrocorax carbo
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Attribute | Barn Owl | Great Cormorant |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Tyto alba | Phalacrocorax carbo |
| Order | Strigiformes | Suliformes |
| Family | Tytonidae | Phalacrocoracidae |
| Conservation Status | Least Concern | Least Concern |
| Length | 35.0 cm (13.8 in) | 90.0 cm (35.4 in) |
| Wingspan | 90.0 cm (35.4 in) | 145.0 cm (57.1 in) |
| Weight | 350.0 g (12.35 oz) | 2600.0 g (91.71 oz) |
| Diet | Almost exclusively small mammals, especially voles and mice. Hunts using extraordinary hearing to locate prey … | Fish caught by diving from the surface. Pursues prey underwater using powerful feet for propulsion. … |
| Clutch Size | 2-16 | 1-7 |
| 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.
Great Cormorant
Coasts, estuaries, lakes, rivers, and reservoirs. Nests in colonies in trees, on cliffs, or on 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.
Great Cormorant
Deep, guttural grunts and 'karrr' calls at colonies. Bill-clicking and hissing in threat displays. Silent at sea. Colonial noise can be deafening during the breeding season.
Geographic Range & Migration
Barn Owl
The most widespread owl and one of the most widespread land birds, found on every continent except Antarctica.
Great Cormorant
Very wide range across Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australasia. One of the most widespread cormorant species.
Conservation Status
Barn Owl
Great Cormorant
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
Great Cormorant
All black with a bronze-green gloss. White throat patch and white thigh patches in breeding season. Yellow-orange face patch around the bill base.
Long, hooked, dark bill with a yellow gape
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.
Great Cormorant
The great cormorant is one of the most widespread seabirds in the world. Unlike most waterbirds, cormorants lack fully waterproof plumage, leading to the iconic pose of standing with wings spread open to dry. In Asia, cormorants have been used by fishermen to catch fish for over a thousand years.