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Species › Birds

Barn Owl

Tyto alba

Order
Strigiformes
Family
Tytonidae
Presence in the Strait
Resident
Abundance
common
Protection in Spain
Vulnerable · Spanish Catalogue
In Spanish
Lechuza común

Photograph: caroline legg, CC BY, vía iNaturalist

Length
33–39 cm
Wingspan
85–93 cm
Weight
300 g
020406080100LENGTH33–39 cmWINGSPAN85–93 cmcentimetres

Presence in the Strait

Common resident in towns and farms.

Identification

Mediumsized nocturnal bird of prey, short tail and long, broad wings. White facial disk and black eyes. Grey and buff upperparts with spotting and white or dark spotted underparts. Winter visitors of the North European sub-species T. a. guttata can be seen with rufous-cinnamon underparts.

Movements

Sedentary local population with juvenile dispersal (<90 Km.) and arrival of birds from the N of Europe to winter.

Ring recoveries

Switzerland (2) and Spain (1).

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Gallery

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.