Photo of a dead Barn Owl found in Nickerie, Suriname by
Dominiek Plouvier and a bird seen by J.H. Ribot, Walsrode zoo
1998. The Barn Owl is big light-colored owl, that can be seen
flying quietly over houses at night. Now and then they utter a
raucous sound. May be mice get routed by the call and so they can
catch them more easily. A lot of scary stories exist around this
nocturnal bird, maybe because it is white from below and can
approach you without any sound.
In Nickerie Barn owls must be quite common, as they are regularly
found dead on the road. The nest is usually found on the attic of
a big building (it has for instance been found breeding in the
big wooden cathedral in the centre of Paramaribo). If you live in
a house where it is breeding, your nights are clearly less silent
than usual.
The barn owl is a wide spread bird: It breeds in North- and South
America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.
Each small square indicates the observation of this owl, the medium ones at least 4 observations and the largest ones 10 or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest. It is mostly found near houses.
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More pictures of nightbirds and other birds from Suriname part 5
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