RANGE | The barn owl is the most widely distributed species of owl- up to 45 different races of barn owls-in the world and one of the most widespread of all species of birds. These owls can be found in Australia, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, as well as North and South America.

FUN FACTS | Barn owls have incredible hearing because of their pronounced facial disc, stiffer feathers surrounding their eyes and face that collect and direct sounds towards their ears. Owls' ears are asymetrically placed, enabling them to capture and analyze sounds from all directions, so they can triangulate the location of their prey. These nocturnal birds have incredible night vision—though very poor color vision. Barn Owls have incredibly soft feathers on the edges of their wings that allow them to flap and glide without making a sound. This makes them silent predators that are skilled at sneaking up on prey and ambushing it. They hunt for a wide variety of small rodents and other small prey, swallowing it whole and coughing up a pellet made of the undigested fur and bones. Barn owls shriek but they do not hoot.

Despite their worldwide distribution, Barn Owls are declining in parts of their range for a variety of reasons—including secondary poisoning from rodenticides and pesticides as well as significant habitat loss. They are now endangered in much of the midwest in the US, where conservation programs are working to increase their numbers.

Remington was found on the ground as a young bird, having fallen from his nest and permanently damaged his wing. He spent several years as an education bird at Fresno Wildlife, until they reached out to us to provide him a home.

Remington is a shy bird, usually peeking out during the day from his nest box while he supervises us cleaning his house or bringing his dinner. Once we are gone, the real Remi comes out at night! He will shred stuffed toys that are heavy-duty and made for destructive dogs. He moves toys around his enclosure, clearly disagreeing with our placement of items. At night, Remi is NOT so mild-mannered as we see in the daytime!