Strigiformes

Barn-owls (Tytonidae)

HBW 5, p. 34 Learn more about the Handbook of the Birds of the World - Volume 5 on the Lynx Edicions website.

• Large-headed owls with heart-shaped facial disc, long legs and strong feet, usually with well-developed talons; plumage generally brown through buff and cream to white, spotted, speckled or barred.
• Almost cosmopolitan.
• Wide variety of habitats, from dense forest to desert, as well as urban landscapes and towns; from cool temperate zone to tropics, and from sea-level up to c. 4000 m.
• 2 genera, 17 species, 63 taxa.
• 6 species threatened; none extinct since 1600.