Barn Owl pictures: Dawn and dusk

Stunning Barn Owl pictures

Pictures of Barn Owls hunting at dawn and dusk – the best times to see them in the wild.
If you are lucky enough to see a wild Barn Owl in the UK, please record your sightings on our Barn Owl online survey website. Thank you.

Barn Owl photography

Please minimise disturbance to the owls at all times.
It’s particularly important to avoid flushing Barn Owls in wet or windy weather.
When taking Barn Owl pictures, please note that it is illegal to disturb breeding Barn Owls and their nests.
About camera, lighting and photography licences.
Legal Protection for nesting Barn Owls.

How do Barn Owls hunt in low light?

A Barn Owl’s low-light vision is highly sensitive to the smallest movement of prey.
A Barn Owl’s large eyes are twice as sensitive to light as human eyes.
Their ears are very good at detecting and pin-pointing the tiny high frequency sounds made by small mammals as they move around in the long grass.
Barn Owls can fly virtually silently, due to their soft feathers. This means that no sound interferes with listening for prey.
Experiments have shown that Barn Owls can capture prey in total darkness by using just their hearing.

Thank you to these wildlife photographers for their wonderful Barn Owl pictures: