Barn Owl feathers

admin
, 23 August 2022
Barn Owl feathers
Barn Owl © Peter Brooks

By Charlotte Owen

WildCall Officer

I can never resist picking up a found feather and one of the most treasured in my small collection once belonged to a Barn Owl. It’s about the length of my outstretched hand, white and weightless and incredibly soft. The upper surface looks more like downy fur than a typical feather, and the individual barbs are only visible from underneath. The leading edge is gilded an almost-glowing amber and daubed with four darker brown bars, marking this as a female’s feather. The ghostly males are generally much paler.

Barn Owl feather

The softness of this feather is a key adaptation for silent flight, and Barn Owls really do glide through the air with the same soundless quality as falling snow. Their dense plumage muffles sound and tiny serrations, like the teeth of a comb, run along the leading edge of each flight feather to break up the turbulence that would otherwise create the swoosh of a flapping wing. The velvet-soft downy coating is a feature unique to owls that improves air flow and dampens smaller currents, as does the super-soft fringe on each wing’s trailing edge. The wings themselves are very large for such a lightweight bird, allowing a barn owl to fly incredibly slowly and hover on the slightest breeze.

Barn Owls hunt with their ears more than their eyes, so it’s vital they filter out as much of their own noise as possible to hone in on their prey. Their feathers also help them to hear, and their distinctive heart-shaped face amplifies sound and channels it to their invisible ears, hidden beneath feathers. These are the most sensitive ears in the animal kingdom and because one is slightly higher than the other, they can hear in 3D. The faintest rustle of a nesting field vole deep within a grassy tussock is enough to pinpoint its location and a Barn Owl will strike with deadly precision, even in pitch darkness. Their one weakness is heavy rain, since their soft feathers are not at all waterproof. Historically, barn owls would hunt in farm buildings on rainy days but today such opportunities are rare, and survival is a challenge for this beautiful bird.

Find out more about owls on our Owls of Sussex course in September 2022

Leave a comment
Time Δ Debug Message - Perch Runway 3.2
1782980009.59850 [906] SELECT p.pagePath, pr.routePattern, pr.routeRegExp, p.pageTemplate, pr.routeOrder, s.settingValue AS siteOffline FROM swt_pages_staging p LEFT JOIN swt_page_routes pr ON p.pageID=pr.pageID LEFT JOIN swt_settings s ON s.settingID='siteOffline' UNION SELECT NULL AS pagePath, pr2.routePattern, pr2.routeRegExp, pr2.templatePath AS pageTemplate, pr2.routeOrder, NULL AS siteOffline FROM swt_page_routes pr2 WHERE templateID!=0 ORDER BY routeOrder ASC, pagePath ASC
1782980009.62460.0261Matched route: news/[slug:s]
1782980009.62480.0002Server address: 216.73.217.103
1782980009.62480Using master page: /templates/pages/blog/post.php
1782980009.62490Page arguments: 
Array
(
    [0] => /news/barn-owl-feathers
    [s] => barn-owl-feathers
    [1] => barn-owl-feathers
)
1782980009.62520.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782980009.62610.0009 [86] SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM swt_settings WHERE userID=0
1782980009.6280.0019 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22512786
1782980009.62860.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=22512786
1782980009.62910.0005 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_sales WHERE saleFrom<='2026-07-02 08:13:00' AND saleTo>'2026-07-02 08:13:00' AND saleActive=1 AND saleDeleted IS NULL ORDER BY saleOrder ASC
1782980009.63050.0014 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='barn-owl-feathers')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-02 08:13:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 10
1782980009.63290.0024 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1782980009.63340.0005 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postID=2851 AND postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-02 08:13:00'
1782980009.63420.0007 [13] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_sections ORDER BY sectionTitle ASC
1782980009.63480.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blogs ORDER BY blogTitle ASC
1782980009.63540.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=181 LIMIT 1
1782980009.63690.0015 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=45 LIMIT 1
1782980009.63760.0007Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782980009.63790.0003 [162] SELECT catID, catPath FROM swt_categories
1782980009.6390.0011 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-02 08:13:00' AND postSlug='barn-owl-feathers'
1782980009.67030.0313Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782980009.67080.0005 [250] SELECT country, countryID FROM swt_shop_countries WHERE countryActive=1 ORDER BY country ASC
1782980009.67230.0015Using template: /templates/pages/attributes/seo.html
1782980009.67260.0003 [1] SELECT regionID, regionTemplate, regionPage, regionRev AS rev FROM swt_content_regions WHERE regionKey='Banner image' AND (regionPage='/news/post' OR regionPage='*')
1782980009.67330.0007 [nil] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, c.regionID, idx.pageID, c.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_content_index idx JOIN swt_content_items c ON idx.itemID=c.itemID AND idx.itemRev=c.itemRev AND idx.regionID=c.regionID JOIN swt_content_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE ((idx.regionID=104 AND idx.itemRev=0)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, pageID, itemJSON, sortval, regionID ORDER BY sortval ASC
1782980009.67430.001 [82] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageDepth >=0 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782980009.67710.0028 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782980009.67760.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782980009.68010.0025Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template.html
1782980009.68010 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782980009.68090.0008 [4] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782980009.68130.0004 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782980009.68420.0029 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782980009.68520.001 [7] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782980009.6860.0007 [9] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1782980009.68850.0025 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' OR pageSortPath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782980009.68910.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageHidden=0 AND pageNew=0 AND pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition
1782980009.69090.0019 [1] Using template: /templates/navigation/breadcrumbs.html
1782980009.69150.0005Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782980009.69180.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1782980009.69250.0008Using template: /templates/blog/author.html
1782980009.6930.0004 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='barn-owl-feathers')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-07-02 08:13:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 1
1782980009.6950.002 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1782980009.69550.0005 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782980009.69740.002Using template: /templates/blog/comment_form.html
1782980009.69850.0011 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_comments WHERE 1=1 AND postID=2851 AND commentStatus='LIVE' ORDER BY FIELD(webmentionType, 'like', 'repost', 'comment', NULL) ASC, commentDateTime ASC
1782980009.74870.0502 [0] Using template: /templates/blog/comment.html
1782980009.74890.0002Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1782980009.74910.0002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1782980009.74950.0005 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/what-we-do' OR pageSortPath='/what-we-do' LIMIT 1
1782980009.750.0005 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-002' LIMIT 1
1782980009.75050.0004 [7] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-002%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782980009.75250.002 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782980009.75290.0004 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782980009.75470.0018 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782980009.75560.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1782980009.75610.0005 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1782980009.75650.0004 [38] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782980009.75880.0024 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782980009.75930.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782980009.76180.0024 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782980009.76510.0033 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/visit' OR pageSortPath='/visit' LIMIT 1
1782980009.76610.0009 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-004' LIMIT 1
1782980009.76660.0005 [30] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-004%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782980009.76880.0022 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782980009.76930.0005 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782980009.77120.0019 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782980009.77360.0024 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1782980009.77420.0006 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1782980009.77470.0005 [11] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1782980009.77670.002 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1782980009.77720.0004 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1782980009.77890.0018 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1782980009.77990.0009Request time: 0.1835
1782980009.77990Process time: 0.1833
1782980009.77990Memory: 1.624