Tyto furcata
Silhouette: Sharon Wegner-Larsen · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The American barn owl (Tyto furcata) is usually considered a subspecies group and together with the western barn owl group, the eastern barn owl group, and sometimes the Andaman masked owl, make up the barn owl, cosmopolitan in range. The barn owl is recognized by most taxonomic authorities. A few (including the International Ornithologists' Union) separate them into distinct species, as is done here. The American barn owl is native to North and South America, and has been introduced to Hawaii.
The ashy-faced owl (T. glaucops) was for some time included in T. alba, and by some authors its populations from the Lesser Antilles still are. Based on DNA evidence, König, Weick & Becking (2009) recognised the American barn owl (T. furcata) and the Curaçao barn owl (T. bargei) as separate species, though the latter is now considered a subspecies of the American barn owl (T. furcata bargei; see #Subspecies, below).
The American barn owl is a medium-sized, pale-coloured owl with long wings and a short, squarish tail. However, the largest-bodied race of barn owl, T. f. furcata from Cuba and Jamaica, is also an island race, albeit being found on more sizeable islands with larger... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toluca | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 2 | Recife | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Belém | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Maracaibo | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 5 | João Pessoa | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | San Pedro Sula | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 7 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 8 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Tegucigalpa | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 10 | Asuncion | 🇵🇾 Paraguay |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an American Barn Owl sighting in Iguaçu National Park on a given day, based on 45 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 248th most-seen of the 346 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report an American Barn Owl in Iguaçu National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July to May, the lowest months.
Between 6 and 9 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most American Barn Owl sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is seen both by day and at night.
15th of 36
Of the 36 parks where we can rate American Barn Owl sightings, Iguaçu National Park ranks 15th at under 5%. The best odds are in Emas National Park (Brazil, about 20%), Ciénaga de Zapata (Cuba, about 10%) and Iberá National Park (Argentina, about 10%).
Same order: Strigiformes
The closest relatives of the American Barn Owl that you can see in Iguaçu National Park (order Strigiformes, Owls) are Burrowing Owl (about 20%), Spectacled Owl (about 10%) and Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the American Barn Owl is recorded against all the birds logged in Iguaçu National Park (45 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
