Owls are mysterious nocturnal birds. With their huge eyes and haunting screams, they appear intelligent and menacing. They are divided into two families: real or typical owls and barn owls. What makes these feathered creatures live every day? Like a bird of prey, it feeds on predators. Read on to learn more about owls’ diet, what they eat and how they hunt for prey at night in the desert and other habitats.
What do owls eat?
The diet of an owl depends on its species, which depends on the climate of its habitat and geographical location. They all feed on carnivores, but what they eat is related to the food sources available in their habitat. Some owls eat carrion, but as a general rule, they eat prey, which they kill themselves. They eat insects, small mammals, other birds, and some focus on fish.
For certain diets, Scops and Screech Owls eat mostly insects. The squeaky owl is divided into eastern and western species. The western screeching owl also eats spiders, slugs, snails, amphibians, fish, birds, and rodents in addition to far more arthropods than its eastern relative. In Seattle, crayfish and giant carpenter ants are prey, while in Arizona they prefer to hunt mammals.
Barn owls mainly eat mice, voles and shrews. Larger species such as the eagle owl prey on young foxes, hares and birds the size of duck or game. Desert owls like the Great Horned Owl prey on insects and reptiles.
It is even known that owls carry away small dogs and cats, which they throw from a height. The striped owl or the hooting tawny owl is one of the species that has been seen with the cat. The Great Horned Owl is also known to attack small dogs and cats.
How do owls find their food?
Owls hunt for their prey. Nocturnal owls are active at night, with the exception of northern hawk and burrowing owls, which are diurnal or active during the day. Those who live in a desert habitat or other clean landscape hunt by flying and then grabbing their prey with sharp claws and powerful legs, or straight with their beaks, as in the case of insects. When they catch a small animal, they carry it to a tree and immediately begin to pierce it and tear its flesh with a hooked sharp beak that has deadly crushing power. Otherwise, owls hunt by chasing insects and small animals on the ground or by catching them after flying from their perch.
How do owls digest food?
Owls cannot chew food like other birds. When they hunt for prey, they either swallow it whole or tear it into smaller pieces to swallow. While they can ingest bones, teeth, fur, and feathers, that doesn’t mean they can digest them. These indigestible substances come out in the form of balls, which they regurgitate from the mouth. Some species of owls partially pluck feathered prey.
A complete list of foods that owls eat
- Owl in a golden mask: insects, rodents, rabbits and birds.
- Barn owl: birds, fish, rodents and other small mammals.
- Owl: insects, mice, voles.
- Snowy owl: lemmings, voles and fish.
- Barred Owl: insects and other invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, other birds, mice, rabbits and other mammals.
- Long-eared Owl: Reptiles, small birds and rodents.
- Scops Owl: small insects, small vertebrates, small mammals.
- Squeaky owl: insects, rodents, snails, slugs, amphibians, fish.
- Owl: birds, hares and foxes
- Long-eared owl: voles, forest mice, bank voles, birds.
- Little Owl: Earthworms, beetles and other invertebrates, small birds and small mammals.
- Long-eared owl: voles and other small mammals, birds.
- Great Horned Owl: Scorpions, snakes and other reptiles.
Owls are common birds of prey all over the world, and their mysterious symbolism is the subject of many tales and stories. We can see them eating only occasionally, when we are lucky enough to catch a glimpse of them while hunting at night. All birds of prey are carnivores, but not all have the same diet. Even two types of owls don’t have the same diet.
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