The Story
I photographed this American Barn Owl (Tyto furcata) at the Avian Reconditioning Center in Apopka, Florida, United States, in October 2020, with its heart-shaped facial disc and dark eyes. It is native to North and South America. It hunts in a light, wavering flight low over the ground, listening for prey. Barn owls are not very territorial but keep a home range where they forage. In the United States young birds usually disperse 80 to 320 kilometers. Its plumage showed white with black speckles on the upperparts and a mix of gray and tawny on the wings. IUCN assesses barn owls as one species, Tyto alba, and lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/1000 sec, f/7.1, ISO 400. When usual methods have not fully rehabilitated a bird, the center uses falconry as a rehabilitation tool, and guests can book private Falconry Experiences with select birds.
©2023 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The American Barn Owl (Tyto furcata) belongs to the family Tytonidae (Barn-Owls) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025). Source: IUCN Red List