Abundance: Common. Breed throughout all states of Australia, Norfolk
Island, and adjacent Nepean and Phillip Islands. Habitat: Grasslands, farmlands, fields, meadows and woodlands. They
characteristically quarter up and down likely-looking areas for their
main quarry, voles and mice, but will sometimes scan the ground from
a lookout post. May roost on ground, nest in farm buildings, amongst
the rafters, or on specially constructed nesting platforms. Feed
mainly at night, hunting in total darkness, but are occasionally seen
at dusk. Movement: Nomadic. Description: Slim; upright posture. Small black eyes. Rounded heart-
shaped mask; brown border, white disc, dark tear marks. Upperparts soft
grey, patchily washed golden-fawn and marked with fine black, white-tipped
spots. Underparts white, sparsely dark-flecked. Long, unfeathered lower
legs protrude just beyond tail in flight. Size: Females 35cm. Males 34cm. Voice: Rasping speech.
The Barn Owl thrives in Australia, where its nomadic habits allow it to
take advantage of the periodic rodent plagues that are such a feature of
Australian life. Historically the Long-Haired Rat (Ratty villosissimus),
was the species most commonly involved. Then the early European settlers
arrived with their grain crops. With them came the House Mouse (Mus-
musculus), which multiplied so rapidly that it was soon the commonest
plague rodent in Australia; a curse to wheat farmers but a boon to Barn
Owls, which respond to the temporarily limitless supplies of food with
prolific and continuous breeding.
Of course, rodent plagues do not last forever and, with the inevitable
crash in numbers, the predators suddenly find themselves without food.
It is the classic boom and bust cycle so beloved by economists but, for
the Barn Owl, it usually means death. Many predators can turn to other
food sources but the Barn Owl is a rodent specialist and is doomed
without them. With food supplies failing, the Barn Owls disperse, often
appearing along roads and in farm buildings, conspicuous in their
starvation.
The classic experiments of Roger Payne at Harvard University (1961) have
demonstrated the ability of the Barn Owl to hunt in total darkness.
