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Side-by-Side Comparison

Attribute	Barn Owl	Oriental Bay-owl
Scientific Name	Tyto alba	Phodilus badius
Order	Strigiformes	Strigiformes
Family	Tytonidae	Tytonidae
Conservation Status	Least Concern	Least Concern
Length	35.0 cm (13.8 in)	—
Wingspan	90.0 cm (35.4 in)	38.2 cm (15.0 in)
Weight	350.0 g (12.35 oz)	269.0 g (9.49 oz)
Diet	Almost exclusively small mammals, especially voles and mice. Hunts using extraordinary hearing to locate prey …	--
Clutch Size	2-16	3-5
Population Trend	—	—

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Size Comparison

Body Length

Barn Owl 35.0 cm

Oriental Bay-owl —

Wingspan

Barn Owl 90.0 cm

Oriental Bay-owl 38.2 cm

Weight

Barn Owl 350.0 g

Oriental Bay-owl 269.0 g

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Habitat Comparison

Shared Habitats

🏖️ Coastal 🌲 Forest

Barn Owl only

🌾 Grassland 🌿 Wetland

Oriental Bay-owl only

None

Barn Owl

Open farmland, grasslands, and marshes. Nests in barns, church steeples, tree cavities, and purpose-built nest boxes.

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Song & Call Comparison

Barn Owl

Song

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.

Oriental Bay-owl

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Geographic Range & Migration

Barn Owl

The most widespread owl and one of the most widespread land birds, found on every continent except Antarctica.

Oriental Bay-owl

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Conservation Status

Least Concern

Barn Owl

Least Concern

Oriental Bay-owl

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How to Tell Them Apart

Barn Owl

Plumage

Pale golden-buff upperparts with delicate grey mottling. Pure white heart-shaped face and white to pale buff underparts. Ghostly white appearance in flight.

Bill

Pale pinkish hooked bill nearly concealed by the facial disc

Oriental Bay-owl

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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.

Oriental Bay-owl

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Related Comparisons

Atlantic Puffin vs Barn Owl

look-alike

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More Birds to Explore

More from Tytonidae

African Grass-owl Tyto capensis American Barn-Owl Tyto furcata Andaman Masked-Owl Tyto deroepstorffi Ashy-faced Owl Tyto glaucops All Tytonidae birds →

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