American barn owl ambassador, Willow, offers a rare sight to Minnesotans. Most owls have feet covered in feathers to provide year-round warmth, but the barn owls lack these insulating feathers and are not well adapted to cold climates.

In 50 years of operation, The Raptor Center (TRC) has only admitted four American barn owls to its hospital. As a permanent res dent and ambassador, Willow offers our hospital staff a more intimate understanding of a species they have limited opportunities to learn from. Willow also helps educate the public about all the unique features of a barn owl compared to more common Minnesota species.

As our team gains a more intimate understanding of barn owls’ nuanced behaviors and medical management needs,
we advance our ability to provide expert, specialized care to TRC’s next barn owl patient and consult with peers across the country and globe who admit barn owls to their hospitals.

As an example, Willow has the most sensitive hearing of any owl species studied. With the iconic heart-shaped facial disc funneling sound to her ears, the asymmetrical placement of ears on her head helps her accurately locate where a sound is coming from, and, with a specialized cochlea (internal ear structure), she can hear high- frequency sounds other birds cannot.

With such fine-tuned hearing, Willow can teach us what sounds in human captivity might cause a barn owl distress and how we can reduce auditory stress in our raptor hospital to promote healing.