Determining whether a barn owl is male or female can be challenging and requires a keen eye, patience, and typically a good photograph or two of the barn owl whose sex you are trying to ascertain. I have created a drawing of the male and female barn owls side by side and slightly exaggerated the differences, so you can understand how to distinguish between a male and female barn owl. This will serve as a useful guide. If you would like to use this as an educational resource on Barn Owls, let me know via the contact page as I can provide a PDF version of this article.
Size – Like most owls and birds of prey, female barn owls are larger than males. The male weighs an average of about 300g, while the female may weigh around 360g, making her 20% heavier than the male. It is difficult to discern which owl is larger even when they are standing next to each other, but these size differences can assist in identifying the male and female.
The facial disc — Females often have darker brown feathers around the rim of the facial disc. This is usually only slightly darker than that of a male’s, but if you have the two owls side by side, it can generally be observed.
Overall Colour – The female barn owl tends to exhibit a slightly darker, richer brown colour over most of its body. Males usually display a lighter colour overall, with their chest area commonly being a cleaner white than that of the females.
Who wears the buff-coloured scarf? – Female barn owls generally have a slightly buff-coloured patch covering their throat, while the male’s throat feathers are whiter. Sometimes, the buff colour is only noticeable in natural daylight. The buff-coloured throat area serves as a good clue indicating that it is a female, particularly if it also features spots or flecks on it.
Spot the spots – Females tend to have small flecks or spots down their front flanks; these spots can extend across the chest plumage or only to the sides. Males generally have purer white plumage, although they too can possess some speckled marks. If the chest of the barn owl is adorned with many specks or spots, it is very likely to be female.
Tales of the tail feathers – Females typically have slightly darker tail feathers than males.
Courtship Behaviour – Barn owl courtship involves mutual preening and vocalisations known as chittering. They are often seen grooming each other and roosting side by side. During the bonding process, the female frequently undertakes most of the grooming and preening of the “henpecked” male. This slight imbalance in preening serves as an early visual cue to help distinguish between the female and male barn owl.
Territorial Behaviour – Due to her instinctive desire to nest and breed, the female may display stronger territorial behaviour than the male.
Who does the hunting? – If you are fortunate enough to have cameras in a barn owl nest box during the breeding season, you can see which is the female as she sits on the eggs. However, if you do not have nest cameras, you can identify the male since it is always the male that does the hunting, while the female remains on the eggs to incubate them. The female is confined to the nest for approximately two months as the eggs hatch and the owlets grow.
If you want information about Owls, please check out my other articles here on the Barn Owl Live website. There are numerous articles that have been written based on my observation of barn owls in my owl barn owl nest boxes. If you are looking for videos of barn owls and their behaviour, please check out my YouTube channel @BarnOwlLive, where you can find many videos on barn owls and other wildlife. If you’re seeking a good general reference document covering Barn Owls, my Comprehensive Guide to Barn Owls is a good place to start.
If you want to look at some of my latest wildlife pictures, why not follow me on my Instagram account as I post my most recent wildlife photos there, often with tips on how to get them. The Instagram account for wildlife photography is PeakyWildlife