How to Use barn owl in a Sentence

barn owl

noun
Definition of barn owlnext
  • The cemetery is also home to barn owls, great horn owls, and eastern screech owls.
    — Maggie Menderski, The Courier-Journal, 10 June 2024
  • Many owl species, like the barn owl, weigh less than two pounds.
    — Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 31 July 2023
  • But barn owls don’t need to hitch a ride to Lehua Island.
    — Tim Lydon, Smithsonian Magazine, 13 Apr. 2023
  • On the cover of Hold on Baby, she’s posed with a snowy barn owl.
    — Angie Martoccio, Rolling Stone, 2 June 2022
  • And birds of prey like buzzards, sparrowhawks, barn owls, and tawny owls.
    — Elizabeth Waddington, Treehugger, 13 Sep. 2023
  • Voles are a favorite meal for barn owls, which come in two shades, reddish brown and white.
    — James Gorman, New York Times, 2 Sep. 2019
  • This also will become the home for the screech owls, barn owls and burrowing owls.
    — Dana Oland, idahostatesman, 12 Mar. 2018
  • Why were the barn owls able to maintain such acute hearing throughout their lives?
    — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, 20 Sep. 2017
  • Students get to don thick leather gloves and let a Harris’ hawk, red tail hawk or barn owl land on their fists.
    — Vincent Crampton, OrlandoSentinel.com, 6 May 2018
  • This program will include a trio of screech owls, a barn owl and a peregrine falcon.
    — Hartford Courant, 10 June 2022
  • Earlier this evening one of our crews on a brush rig rescued a barn owl from the flames of the #SilveradoFire.
    — Alex Sundby, CBS News, 28 Oct. 2020
  • In her care was a kestrel, peregrine falcon, barn owl, bald and golden eagle.
    — Denise Coffey, Courant Community, 29 May 2018
  • Volunteer Jeanne Wadsworth brought out Tyton, a barn owl from Utah.
    — Denise Coffey, Courant Community, 29 May 2018
  • Somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, a barn owl has just eaten a mouse.
    — Washington Post, 26 Aug. 2020
  • Who Was Afraid of the Dark tells the story of Plop, a baby barn owl who is helped by others to overcome his fears and grow in confidence.
    — Omid Scobie, Harper's BAZAAR, 7 Feb. 2022
  • The research group found that the cilia are notably absent from feathers of barn owls and nightjars, two species that stalk prey at night.
    — Jim Daley, Scientific American, 10 Apr. 2020
  • In the story, a baby barn owl named Plop is frightened of the dark, but he's helped by others to grow in confidence and overcome his fears.
    — Stephanie Petit, PEOPLE.com, 11 Feb. 2022
  • On April 29, a barn owl arrived at the Bahde Wildlife Center with most of her feathers saturated in glue.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 May 2021
  • The bellies of Tyto alba, as the common barn owl is formally known, can range in color from dark red to bright white.
    — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, 4 Sep. 2019
  • The exception is in silent fliers, like barn owls, whose feathers have evolved to make sounds that are 40 decibels more quiet than those of pigeons.
    — Courtney Linder, Popular Mechanics, 21 Jan. 2020
  • The flat faces of certain owls, like the barn owl, act as a giant external ear — like a satellite dish — with the feathers directing the sound into the ear.
    — New York Times, 21 Sep. 2023
  • Israel is home to the densest barn owl population in the world, according to a statement.
    — Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Oct. 2023
  • As the night unfolded, a barn owl flew silently by on its nocturnal hunting rounds.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 June 2021
  • Next Snyder brought out a screeching female barn owl, its flat white face appearing a little sleepy in the broad daylight.
    — Washington Post, 11 June 2018
  • This could explain why white barn owls continue to have red counterparts.
    — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, 4 Sep. 2019
  • Even a common species like the barn owl — found on every continent as well as remote islands — is a source of disagreement.
    — Carl Zimmer, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2024
  • The happy couple was just about to exchange vows when the barn owl — which had been commissioned specifically to fly down the aisle and deliver the rings to the best man — took off from its perch near the back of the room.
    — Michael Bartiromo, Fox News, 27 Mar. 2018
  • The resort’s roster includes six Harris’s hawks, one peregrine falcon, one Eurasian eagle owl, one barn owl and an Eastern screech owl.
    — Washington Post, 28 Jan. 2022
  • In fact, many cultures associate the barn owl with superstition.
    — National Geographic, 31 Oct. 2020
  • This plumage coloration is entirely due to melanins, because no carotenoids or other pigments have been isolated from barn owl feathers (ref).
    — Grrlscientist, Forbes, 18 Apr. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'barn owl.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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