If it sees prey it will spread its talons and strike. Barn owls eat about three rats or mice a day. After, owls cough up things like bones and parts of their prey they can't digest. These are called pellets. If you add water to one and carefully peel it apart, you can see everything the owl ate.
Barn owls have many weird ways of protecting themselves.
Most barn owls live out of the weather in barns and old empty buildings. Barn owls like to use camouflage. A barn owl will fold one wing over its face and pretend to be a dead limb. If captured, it plays possum until given a chance to escape. Then it flies off.