An owl with a heart-shaped face, seen over farmland and grassland in Britain.
British birds have a white face and underparts, with buff and grey markings on the back and wings.
White barn-owl plumage can affect prey behaviour. In a Swiss laboratory experiment under lighting that simulated a full moon, common voles froze longer when shown a white taxidermied barn owl than a reddish one. Applying preen wax to reduce white-plumage reflectance shortened the freezing response.
The 2019 paper reported experiments with 24 common voles captured near Lausanne in 2015 and 23 in 2016. Mounted owls in flying postures slid along a sloping line toward the voles. Each vole experienced different plumage colours and light conditions, and its movements were filmed. Under simulated full-moon illumination, freezing lasted about five seconds longer for white than reddish mounts. In 2016, reducing the reflectance of white feathers also changed the response. These experiments suggest that reflected light can influence how long prey remain motionless before resuming activity.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
A Hungarian conservation study compared barn owls raised in outward-facing church-tower nest boxes with those raised inside towers. Analysis of 1995–2003 ringing records found lower first-year survival curves for box-raised young after the parent-dependent period. The authors highlighted space for flight practice and proposed reopening part of a tower for owls while separating it from areas used by people. This regional proposal considers space used around fledging as well as the number of nesting places.