Editing Tytonidae (section)

===Hunting and feeding===
Hunting [[Crepuscular animal|in twilight]] or [[Nocturnality|at night]], the barn owl can target its prey and dive to the ground. Its legs and toes are long and slender, which improves its ability to forage among dense foliage or beneath the snow and gives it a wide spread of talons when attacking prey. This bird hunts by flying slowly, quartering the ground and hovering over spots that may conceal prey. It has long, broad wings that enable it to manoeuvre and turn abruptly.<ref name=Taylor46/> It has acute hearing, with ears placed asymmetrically, which improves detection of sound position and distance; the bird does not require sight to hunt. The facial disc helps with the bird's hearing, as is shown by the fact that, with the ruff feathers removed, the bird can still determine a sound source's [[azimuth|direction]], although without the disc it cannot determine the source's [[elevation|height]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Knudsen, Eric I. |author2=Konishi, Masakazu |year=1979 |title=Mechanisms of sound localization in the barn owl (''Tyto alba'') |journal=Journal of Comparative Physiology |volume=133 |issue=1 |pages=13–21 |doi=10.1007/BF00663106 |s2cid=1502927 }}</ref> It may perch on branches, fence posts, or other lookouts to scan its surroundings, and this is the main means of prey location in the [[Elaeis guineensis|oil palm]] plantations of Malaysia.<ref name=Taylor61>Taylor (2004) pp. 47–61</ref><ref name="ArdeaMayrom2009">{{cite journal |author1=Meyrom, Kobi |author2=Motro, Yoav |author3=Leshem, Yossi |author4=Aviel, Shaul |author5=Izhaki, Ido |author6=Argyle, Francis |author7=Charter, Motti |year=2009 |title=Nest-box use by the barn owl ''Tyto alba'' in a biological pest control program in the Beit She'an Valley, Israel |journal=Ardea |volume=97 |issue=4 |pages=463–467 |doi=10.5253/078.097.0410 |s2cid=86309543 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

[[File:Chouette crâne (2).jpg|thumb|right|Skull, showing the powerful beak]]

Rodents and other small mammals may constitute over ninety percent of the prey caught.<ref name=Taylor46/><ref name="Lavariega">{{cite journal | last1 = Lavariega | first1 = Mario C. | last2 = García-Meza | first2 = Josué | last3 = Martínez-Ayón | first3=Yazmín del Mar | last4 = Camarillo-Chávez | first4 = David | last5 = Hernández-Velasco | first5 = Teresa | last6 = Briones-Salas | first6 = Miguel | title = Análisis de las presas de la Lechuza de Campanario (Tytonidae) en Oaxaca Central, México | journal = Neotropical Biology and Conservation | volume = 11 | issue = 1 | year = 2015 | issn = 2236-3777 | doi = 10.4013/nbc.2016.111.03 | url = http://revistas.unisinos.br/index.php/neotropical/article/view/nbc.2016.111.03 | language = es| doi-access = free | bibcode = 2015NeoBC..1111.03L }}{{Open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Ingles, Chuck |year=1995 |title=Summary of California studies analyzing the diet of barn owls |journal=Sustainable Agriculture/Technical Reviews |volume=2 |pages=14–16 |url=http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/newsltr/v7n2/sa-9.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111128004146/http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/newsltr/v7n2/sa-9.htm |archive-date=November 28, 2011 }}</ref> Birds are also taken, as well as [[lizard]]s, [[amphibian]]s, [[fish]], [[spider]]s, and [[insect]]s.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.peregrinefund.org/explore-raptors-species/owls/barn-owl | title=Barn Owl &#124; the Peregrine Fund }}</ref><ref>König, Claus, Friedhelm Weick, and Jan-Hendrik Becking. Owls of the World. 2nd ed. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2009. Web. 23 May. 2023.</ref> Even when they are plentiful, and other prey scarce, [[earthworm]]s do not seem to be consumed. In North America and most of Europe, [[vole]]s predominate in the diet, and [[shrew]]s are the second most common food choice.<ref name=Taylor46>Taylor (2004) pp. 29–46</ref> In Ireland, the accidental introduction of the [[bank vole]] in the 1950s led to a major shift in the barn owl's diet: where their ranges overlap, the vole is now by far the largest prey item.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Kelleher, K. M. |author2=Oliver, G. A. |author3=Sleeman, D. P. |year=2010 |title=The composition and sex of rodent prey taken by Barn Owls ''Tyto alba'' at a roost in County Cork |journal=Irish Birds |volume=9 |pages=35–40 |issn=0332-0111 }}</ref> [[Mice]] and [[rat]]s are the main foodstuffs in the Mediterranean region, the tropics, subtropics, and Australia. [[Gopher]]s, [[muskrat]]s, [[hare]]s, [[rabbit]]s, and [[bat]]s are also preyed upon.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/sites/default/files/lifesciences/documents/ogatt/Tyto_alba%20-%20Barn%20Owl.pdf|title=Barn owl (Tyto alba)|website=Sta.uwi.edu|access-date=2022-04-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Tyto_alba/ | title=Tyto alba (Barn owl) | website=[[Animal Diversity Web]] }}</ref> Barn owls are usually specialist feeders in productive areas and generalists in areas where prey is scarce.<ref name=Taylor46/>

On the Cape Verde Islands, geckos are the mainstay of the diet, supplemented by birds such as [[plover]]s, [[godwit]]s, [[turnstone]]s, [[Ploceidae|weavers]], and [[pratincole]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |last=de Naurois | first=R. |year=1982 |title=Le statut de la Chouette effraie de l'archipel du Cape Verte ''Tyto alba detorta'' |journal=Rivista Italiana di Ornitologia |volume=52 | issue=3–4 |pages=154–166 | language=fr }}</ref> On a rocky islet off the coast of California, a clutch of four young were being reared on a diet of [[Leach's storm petrel]] (''Oceanodroma leucorhoa'').<ref>{{cite journal | last=Bonnot | first=Paul | year=1928 | title=An outlaw Barn Owl | journal=Condor | volume=30 | issue=5 | pages=320–329 | jstor=1363231 | url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v030n05/p0320-p0320.pdf | doi = 10.2307/1363231 }}</ref> On bird-rich islands, a barn owl might include birds as some fifteen to twenty percent of its diet, while in grassland it will gorge itself on swarming termites, or on Orthoptera such as Copiphorinae katydids, Jerusalem crickets (Stenopelmatidae), or true crickets (Gryllidae). Smaller prey is usually torn into chunks and eaten completely, including bones and fur, while prey larger than about {{convert|100|g}}—such as baby rabbits, ''[[Cryptomys]]'' [[blesmol]]s, or ''[[Otomys]]'' vlei rats—is usually dismembered and the inedible parts discarded.<ref name = tp67>{{cite journal | last1=Traylor | first1=Melvin A. | last2=Parelius | first2=Daniel | year=1967 | title=A collection of birds from the Ivory Coast | journal=Fieldiana Zoology | volume=51 | issue=7 | pages=91–117 | url=https://archive.org/details/collectionofbird517tray}}</ref><ref name="Ehrlich et al 1994 250 254">Ehrlich et al. (1994) pp. 250–254</ref><ref name=Laudet>{{cite journal |author1=Laudet, Frédéric |author2=Denys, Christiane |author3=Senegas, Frank |year=2002 |title=Owls, multirejection and completeness of prey remains: implications for small mammal taphonomy |journal=Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia |volume=45 |pages=341–355 |url=http://www.isez.pan.krakow.pl/journals/azc_v/pdf/45/27.pdf }}</ref>

Compared to other owls of similar size, the barn owl has a much higher [[Metabolism|metabolic rate]], requiring relatively more food. Relative to its size, barn owls consume more rodents. Studies have shown that an individual barn owl may eat one or more voles (or their equivalent) per night, equivalent to about fourteen percent of the bird's bodyweight. Excess food is often [[Hoarding (animal behavior)|cached]] at roosting sites and can be used when food is scarce.<ref name=Taylor95>Taylor (2004) pp. 91–95</ref> This makes the barn owl one of the most economically valuable wildlife animals for agriculture. Farmers often find these owls more effective than poison in keeping down rodent pests, and they can encourage barn owl habitation by providing nesting sites.<ref name="ArdeaMayrom2009" />