Barn owls
| Barn owls | ||||||||
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Barn Owl ( Tyto alba ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||
| Tytonidae | ||||||||
| Ridgway , 1914 |
The barn owls (Tytonidae) are one of the two families of the owls ( order Strigiformes). It includes the species-rich genus of the barn owls in the narrower sense and the genus of mask owls, which, according to the current state of knowledge, consists of two species . The species that gives it its name and is best known in Central Europe is the barn owl . The largest species is the Tasmanian barn owl , which can reach a body length of up to 55 centimeters.
Features and way of life
Barn owls are characterized by their eye-catching heart-shaped face veils. One of the most noticeable features, however, is that the backward-facing inner toe is the same length as the middle toe.
Barn owls are nocturnal hunters and mainly eat small mammals such as mice and small birds . Flow noises during flight are avoided by comb-like serrated front wing feathers and by downy hairs on the feathers on the upper side of the wing.
distribution
The family occurs on all continents except Antarctica . The greatest diversity of species is found in Australia , New Guinea, and Indonesia . In contrast, the family is completely absent in Central , North and most of East Asia .
Genera and species
The family system is in a state of radical change. Many subspecies are assigned to individual species, such as the barn owl that occurs in Central Europe. Some authors now assign species status to various subspecies on the basis of DNA studies. The number of species that are included in the barn owl family varies between 16 and 27 recent species, depending on the author.
Subfamily mask owls (Phodilinae)
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Masked Owls ( Phodilus )
- Masked Owl ( P. badius )
- Sri Lankan Masked Owl ( Phodilus assimilis )
- Congo Mask Owl ( P. prigoginei )
Subfamily barn owls i. e. S. (Tytoninae)
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Barn Owls ( Tyto )
- Malegasse Owl ( T. soumagnei )
- Barn Owl ( T. alba )
- America barn owl ( T. furcata )
- Curacao Barn Owl ( T. bargei )
- Hispaniola Barn Owl ( T. glaucops )
- Lesser Antilles Barn Owl ( T. insularis )
- Galápagos Barn Owl ( Tyto punctatissima )
- Cape Verde Barn Owl ( T. distorta )
- Sao Tome barn owl ( T. thomensis )
- Andaman barn owl ( T. deroepstorffi )
- Australian Barn Owl ( T. delicatula )
- Boang barn owl ( T. crassirostris )
- Sulawesi barn owl ( T. rosenbergii )
- Taliabu Barn Owl ( T. nigrobrunnea )
- Minahassa Barn Owl ( T. inexpectata )
- Tanimbar Barn Owl ( T. sororcula )
- Manus Barn Owl ( T. manusi )
- Tasmanian barn owl ( T. castanops )
- New Holland owl ( T. novaehollandiae )
- Gold Owl ( T. aurantia )
- Black Owl ( T. tenebricosa )
- Spotted soot owl ( T. multipunctata )
- African grass owl ( T. capensis )
- Eastern grass owl ( T. longimembris )
- Bahamas owl ( T. pollens ), subfossil from Andros Island , Bahamas
supporting documents
Single receipts
literature
- Claus König , Friedhelm Weick: Owls of the World. Christopher Helm, London 2008, ISBN 978-0-7136-6548-2 .
