Western barn owl

It has been suggested that this article be merged into Barn owl. (Discuss) Proposed since June 2024.

Western barn owl
Western Barn owl in Lancashire, England
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Strigiformes
Family:	Tytonidae
Genus:	Tyto
Species:	T. alba
Binomial name
Tyto alba (Scopoli, 1769)
Subspecies
Many, see text
*Green: resident *Orange: extinct populations
Synonyms
Strix alba Scopoli, 1769

The western barn owl (Tyto alba) is usually considered a subspecies group and together with the American barn owl group, the eastern barn owl group, and sometimes the Andaman masked owl make up the barn owl. The cosmopolitan 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 western barn owl is native to Eurasia and Africa.