Featured on films and TV, the blood-curdling screech of the Barn Owl is perhaps the best-known call of all the owls. This pale, ghostly owl with its heart-shaped face is locally quite common close to agricultural areas here in the southwest. In Yuma alone, we have dozens nesting in and around the city--a pair has even nested in one of our palm trees for two years running.

Family: Owls (Strigidae)
Genus & Species: Tyto furcata
Identification:
 - Size: 16" length, 42" wingspan, 16 oz. weight.
 - Male color and appearance: Mostly white below, tan back, rounded head without ears, and heart-shaped face. The back is a rich speckled tan color. Dark eyes. Long wings extend beyond short tail when perched. Relatively long legs.
 - Female ID: A bit darker below than male, with more beige on the breast.
 - Juvenile ID: A bit darker than adults.
 - Flight: Agile and silent, with fairly deep wingbeats on long wings.
Feeding Behavior: Nocturnal. Their acute hearing allows them to catch prey in total darkness. Primarily rodents such as mice, gophers, and voles. Occasionally reptiles, amphibians, and insects. Barn Owls swallow their prey whole, and then about twice a day cough up pellets of indigestible fur and bones; a fresh stash of these at the base of a tree is a good indication of nesting.
Similar Species: When seen well, the heart-shaped face of the Barn Owl is diagnostic. A quick glance at a pale body flying overhead might be a light-colored Great Horned Owl.
Songs and Calls: Harsh rasping or hissing screech. Common "klee-klee" flight call. At the nest site will make a variety of clicks and clucking noises.
Status: Locally common throughout Arizona and California. Rarely found in the canyonlands of northeast Arizona.
Habitat: A wide variety of habitats, ranging from agricultural to desert washes to urban. About the only places they aren't regularly found is high elevations and dense forests. You can find American Barn Owls nesting in a wide range of locations. Like most owls, trees are a favored nest site. But they regularly use mine shafts in deserts and mountains, palm trees in cities and date groves, abandoned buildings, barns (their namesake), silos and hay stacks in agricultural areas, caves, cliff crevices and ledges, and have been known to scrape out burrows in the banks of rivers and arroyos. They will also readily use nest boxes.
Breeding Range: All of Arizona and California, but very infrequent in northeast Arizona. The earliest nesting commences in January; the latest nesting was noted by the Arizona Breeding Bird Atlas survey teams in August. Most nesting takes place in April and May, with 4-6 eggs incubated soley by the female.
Wintering Range: These owls are non-migratory in our area.
Known breeding locations: Common in the agricultural areas south of Yuma, at Spot Road Farm, and at Paloma Ranch.