Which bird has a heart-shaped facial disc?

The barn owl has a distinctive heart-shaped facial disc.

The pale facial disc is formed by specialized feathers that surround the eyes and bill. Its shape and arrangement help collect and direct sound toward the owl’s ears, supporting the remarkably precise hearing that barn owls use to locate prey. They can hunt in darkness or dense vegetation, often dropping silently onto small mammals such as mice and voles.

Barn owls are not typical “hoot” owls. Their calls are commonly described as harsh screams, hisses or shrieks, which is why their eerie nighttime voices can surprise people expecting a deep hoot. The heart-shaped face, pale underside and long wings also make them easy to distinguish from tawny owls, snowy owls and great horned owls.

Barn owls occur on several continents and commonly nest in barns, church towers, tree cavities and other sheltered structures. The name refers to this association with buildings, not to a separate facial adaptation. In North America, the American barn owl is one regional form within the broader barn-owl complex.