Owls are nocturnal birds known for being spooky with their menacing eyes and shrill shriek. They also have an uncanny stance that only makes them more like the stuff of Halloween.
Besides being an unsettling group of birds, owls are birds of prey— they hunt, kill, and eat other animals. We are not the only ones that think owls are scary; the animals they prey on must think so, too. Owls commonly feed on invertebrates and small animals, but do they go after birds?
Owls do eat birds. The size of bird an owl might hunt depends a lot on both the owls size as well as how accustomed it is to eating birds. Small owls are less likely to prey on birds than larger owls.
There are many owl species, with a wide range of sizes.
Generally, smaller species of owls hunt smaller prey such as rodents and insects, while larger species go after bigger prey like birds and rabbits.
Also, adult owls are more likely to go after larger animals than younger owls.
Table of Contents
Do Owls Eat Other Birds?
What Owls Eat
Being birds of prey, owls eat different animals, from earthworms, fish, spiders, rats, snakes, lizards, snails, frogs, to cats, rabbits, and birds.
While there is no real restriction on the type of animal an owl can feed on, some species of owls are more likely to feed on certain animals than other species.
Small owls, like the scop owl, are more likely to prey on insects such as grasshoppers, moths, caterpillars, spiders, and cicadas.
Barn owls are another group of relatively small owls. They typically focus on rodents such as rats, voles, hares, shrews, and rabbits.
Some owls become predisposed to feeding on certain animals because of their habitat. Of such owls are the African Fishing Owls and the Asian Fish Owls. As the names suggest, these species are the expert fishers amongst the owl species.
The eagle owl is one of the largest species, with the capability to eat animals such as fox, birds, and other small mammals.
What Birds Do Owls Eat
Believe it or not, owls do not care if an animal has feathers as they do; they eat various types of birds when they have the chance. Bigger owls may even eat the smaller owls.
Below are some species of owls and the birds they eat:
Great Horned Owls
These are large owls capable of eating birds like rock pigeons, mallards, osprey, American crows, American coots, geese, and grouse.
Burrowing Owls
These unique owls eat waterbirds, blackbirds, and songbirds.
Snowy Owls
Snowy owls eat Canada goose, ptarmigan, great blue heron, peregrine falcon, and seabirds.
Barn Owls
Barn owls eat birds only occasionally. When they do, you’ll find them eating birds such as blackbirds, starlings, marsh wrens, and meadowlarks.
Northern Hawk Owls
This class of owls commonly goes after small rodents, but they also feast on birds. Some birds they will eat include robins, jays, doves, buntings, ptarmigan, starlings, grouse, and partridges.
Eastern Screech-Owls
Eastern screech-owls will hunt small birds such as blue jays, European starlings, titmice, mockingbirds, cuckoos, chickadees, thrushes, creepers, finches, and woodpeckers.
Many of their targets are songbirds; you’ll hear them making noisy calls at Eastern screech-owls as a way to dissuade them.
Short-Eared Owls
Primarily, these owls go after voles and other rodents. But sometimes they’ll catch terns, rails, sandpipers, gulls, plovers, and passerines.
Long-Eared Owls
You’ll most likely find long-eared owls hunting small mammals such as mice and voles. But they can also eat small birds such as ruffed grouse and passerine.
Northern Pygmy-Owls
When the weather is warm, northern pygmy-owls will eat grasshoppers, cicadas, beetles, and other large insects. They also eat rodents, reptiles, and smaller birds such as swallows, starlings, finches, wrens, creepers, hummingbirds, and warblers.
Spectacled Owls
Spectacled owls go after small mammals and birds. The birds they prey on include motmots and jays.
Northern Saw-Whet Owls
These owls usually go after mice and small rodents also. But they can eat birds like pine siskins, flycatchers, and golden-crowned kinglets.
African Grass Owls
The African grass owl fancies a meal of vlei-rat. But you may also find it going after black crake and African snipe.
Boreal Owls
Boreal owls eat woodpeckers, chickadee, warblers, and thrushes.
Owls eat different types of birds, most of which are smaller than them. They eat omnivores and herbivores, but rarely carnivorous bird species. The omnivores they eat are those that feed on only invertebrates like insects and worms.
Will Owls Eat Baby Birds
Owls like the Great Horned Owls, Barn Owls, and Screech-Owls have been noted to sometimes eat their owlets for various reasons.
Of course, if they eat their own hatchlings, they will definitely eat the young of other birds. But they are more likely to eat the offspring of the birds they normally prey on.
Babies of other birds of prey are less accessible to them.
Twenty-Nine Animals That Are Part of an Owl’s Normal Diet
- Beetles
- Crayfish
- Moths
- Centipedes
- Scorpions
- Crickets
- Grasshoppers
- Mice
- Voles
- Shrews
- Raccoons
- Rabbits
- Cats
- Frogs
- Lizards
- Falcons
- Puppies
- Squirrels
- Bats
- Goose
- Chickadees
- Grouse
- Ducks
- Snakes
- Rats
- Spiders
- Snails
- Butterflies
- Toads
Conclusion
Owls do eat birds, and occasionally, larger owl species will prey on species of smaller owls. As predators, their size is the main factor that determines the type of birds they eat. Besides their size, an owl’s environment and species are also factors.
Resources
- https://animalsdiet.com/what-do-owls-eat-owl-diet-feeding/
- http://www.worldofowls.com/food-and-hunting/
- https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Screech-Owl/overview
- https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=254123
- https://animals.mom.com/animal-preys-owls-5389.html
- https://kidzfeed.com/what-do-owls-eat/
