Did you know that barred owls make noise at night, especially during the mating season? Owls are wild birds, and they don't exactly make good pets, as they are nocturnal.

Barred owls are specially adapted to hunt prey, with razor-sharp claws, asymmetrical ears, and a sharp visual focus. If you are a suburban homeowner, you are highly likely to find a barred owl outside your owl, if the nearby trees and branches are large enough to hold a nest. The barred owl spends most of the daytime in tree hollows.

Fun Facts About Barred Owls

• The first thing you will notice is their huge eyes and facial disk that give it a wide field of view for easy hunting.
• The Barred Owl feeds on rodents, amphibians, reptiles, invertebrates, and fish.
• Apart from having huge eyes and asymmetrical ears, the barred owl can rotate its neck at 270 degrees, making it an effective hunter.
• The Barred Owl makes a range of sounds that include screams, cackles, hisses, rasps, and a sinister laughter-like sound. The male's voice is much deeper than a female's voice.
• Their ears which are at different heights help to make sound reception more accurate, to help in locating the prey. And the feathers on the facial disk help to funnel sound into the ears.
• Common nesting places for Barred Owls are tree cavities, squirrel dreys, or large abandoned nests
• You are most likely to find a Barred Owl in forests with thick undergrowth rich in prey including rodents, and water bodies and wooden swamps also have fish populations for food.
• Like other owls, the Barred Owl swallows its catch whole.
• While it's not clear what they communicate, ancient traditions believe that owls hold and share secret knowledge. Their mysterious nocturnal nature probably helps to reinforce this belief.