Hearing the scurry of a vole on the forest floor, we see a barn owl emerge from the darkness to catch its prey. Unless you summer in the Far North or South, midnight represents deep darkness for plants and animals, including humans. Some species certainly embrace the night; they rely on scents, sounds, and even Earth's magnetic field to find their way. But as most birds depend on sight, you might expect a sleepy, dark start to our bird day. No! Many birds thrive at this time, including owls that have evolved to orient themselves and hunt for their prey in the dimmest of lights. There is perhaps no better example than the barn owl. Barn owls live pretty much everywhere except Antarctica. But do not take that to mean they are uninteresting.

Barn owls can hunt in total darkness. They hear the subtle noises made by voles, mice, rats, and other rodents and can locate them as they rush through the nighttime leaf litter. This requires the owls themselves to be quiet--and they are, flying so silently while hunting that they are able to pick up the softest of sounds from below. Barn owls look relatively large, but their bodies are no bigger or heavier than that of a dove. They are just covered in extra-soft feathers to minimize noise during flight. Large wings and a light body also allow this quieter, slower flight. With these wings, the owls can even hover as they pinpoint their potential prey in the ground cover. Hearing is one thing, but how do barn owls locate their prey in the dark? Unlike many other owls that have symmetrical ears, the orientation of feathers on the barn owl's face helps direct sound toward their ears, which are located at different heights.

The differing heights help barn owls better perceive subtle changes in the direction and strength of the noises coming from a mouse or vole. This allows them to hear and even create three-dimensional mental maps--matching a sound with the distance to its source, above or below. Thankfully, tonight is dry. Night rain is the enemy of the barn owl. It dampens their feathers, making flight less quiet, and adds background noise as it falls on the leaf litter, masking the sounds of small mammals scuttering on the ground.