Owls are birds, and most owls are awake and hunt at night. As of November 2026, scientists recognize more than 200 kinds of owls, and they are sorted into two families: barn owls, and all the other owls, called typical owls. The biggest owls weigh up to about 9 pounds (4 kilograms), while the elf owl is one of the smallest owls in the world.

Owls have big eyes, but they cannot move their eyes around, so they turn their whole heads instead. An owl can turn its head far around to look behind it, and it also bobs and sways its head to judge distance. Even so, owls cannot see in total darkness. An owl's ears are holes in its head, hidden under feathers. The ring of feathers around its face, called the facial disc, helps funnel sound to its ears, and an owl can hear a mouse step on a twig from about 75 feet (23 meters) away.

Many owls fly almost without a sound. The edges of an owl's feathers are soft, and the outer wing feathers have a comb-like edge that helps quiet its flight. Owls also have large wings for their body size, which lets them fly slowly. A snowy owl is a patient hunter that waits on a perch and then flies after its prey.

What do owls hunt? Owls catch small animals such as mice to eat, and they eat many kinds of prey, from small mammals to birds, lizards and insects. A few owls eat fish. Barn owls eat many rats, mice and voles, and a snowy owl's favorite food is lemmings. A great gray owl can find a rodent under the snow by sound.

Now let's see what happens after a meal. Owls grab their food with sharp claws called talons. Owls have no teeth, so they often swallow their food whole, and they cough up pellets of fur and bones that they cannot digest. Taking apart an owl pellet shows what the owl ate. Many owls also hide extra food and come back to eat it later. Owls help people by eating rodents such as mice and rats.

Most owls do not build their own nests, but use old nests of other birds or holes in trees. Burrowing owls often use burrows dug by other animals, such as prairie dogs, ground squirrels and badgers, rather than digging their own. Most owls stay in the same area all year, and very few kinds of owls migrate. Owls lay more eggs when there is plenty of food and fewer when food is scarce. As of November 2026, burrowing owl numbers in North America have been going down for many years, mostly because they are losing places to live.

Words to know

• prey: hunted animals
• pellets: fur-and-bone balls
• facial: of the face
• migrate: move far away
• burrows: holes underground