American barn owl
| American barn owl | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Tyto furcata furcata | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Strigiformes |
| Family: | Tytonidae |
| Genus: | Tyto |
| Species: | T. furcata |
| Binomial name | |
|
Tyto furcata (Temminck, 1827) |
|
| Subspecies | |
|
Many, see text |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Strix pratincola Bonaparte, 1838 |
|
Many, see text
Strix pratincola Bonaparte, 1838
The American barn owl (Tyto furcata) is usually considered a subspecies group and together with the western barn owl group, the eastern barn owl group, and sometimes the Andaman masked owl, make up the barn owl, cosmopolitan in range. The barn owl is recognized by most taxonomic authorities. A few (including the International Ornithologists' Union separate them into distinct species, as is done here. The American barn owl is native to North and South America, and has been introduced to Hawaii.
The ashy-faced owl (T. glaucops) was for some time included in T. alba, and by some authors its populations from the Lesser Antilles still are. Based on DNA evidence, König, Weick & Becking (2009) recognised the American Barn Owl (T. furcata) and the Curaçao Barn Owl (T. bargei) as separate species.
In the Handbook of Birds of the World, Volume 5: Barn-owls to Hummingbirds, the following subspecies are listed:
The American barn owl is a medium-sized, pale-coloured owl with long wings and a short, squarish tail. However, the largest bodied race of barn owl, T. f. furcata from Cuba and Jamaica, is also an island race, albeit being found on more sizeable islands with larger prey and few larger owls competing for dietary resources. The shape of the tail is a means of distinguishing the barn owl from typical owls when seen in the air. Other distinguishing features are the undulating flight pattern and the dangling, feathered legs. The pale face with its heart shape and black eyes give the flying bird a distinctive appearance, like a flat mask with oversized, oblique black eye-slits, the ridge of feathers above the beak somewhat resembling a nose.
The bird's head and upper body typically vary between pale brown and some shade of grey (especially on the forehead and back) in most subspecies. Some are purer, richer brown instead, and all have fine black-and-white speckles except on the remiges and rectrices (main wing feathers), which are light brown with darker bands. The heart-shaped face is usually bright white, but in some subspecies it is brown. The underparts, including the tarsometatarsal (lower leg) feathers, vary from white to reddish buff among the subspecies, and are either mostly unpatterned or bear a varying number of tiny blackish-brown speckles. It has been found that at least in the continental European populations, females with more spotting are healthier than plainer birds. This does not hold true for European males by contrast, where the spotting varies according to subspecies. The beak varies from pale horn to dark buff, corresponding to the general plumage hue, and the iris is blackish brown. The talons, like the beak, vary in colour, ranging from pink to dark pinkish-grey and the talons are black.
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Wikipedia