Reproductive Characteristics

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Barn owl courtship becomes evident around the beginning of spring.  The male is more frequently out in the daylight looking for small rodents and insects to entice his mate or to attract a new one.  Once a pair is formed, a flight ritual can often be seen and heard, for it is rather noisy.  The male chases the female while both birds continually screech. Occasionally, the female will settle on a perch while the male hovers in front of her in a fluttering display. The male also has to lure her to a nest site and persuade her to nest. Once a nest site has been chosen,

the pair continue with their courtship rituals and mating throughout the cycle, albeit at a reduced frequency after eggs have been laid.  As their name suggests, barn owls prefer barns and other fairly dark and quiet farm outbuildings for nesting.  Nests are fairly dirty in nature with the base of it comprised from a dry compost derived from the detritus of regurgitated pellets.  Adding to the regurgitated mess are the remnants of left over meals, half eaten or not even touched.  The whole breeding period is quite long, a good 90-100 (Table 2). It is a table of events from a studied nest, ranging from the first egg, to the young leaving the territory. Average clutch size is approximately 2-5 eggs. The eggs are white when first laid but, become colored by the detritus material in the nest. The female stays with the eggs except to leave the nest on occasion. These short interludes are to stretch her wings and keep her hunting skills sharp (Read and Alsop, 1994).