The flight of an owl is almost noiseless due to tiny fringelike structures found along the outer edge of each feather. This allows an owl to fly silently toward its prey without detection. The name comes from the barring or banding of alternating colors over most of the bird's body. The beak is yellow or grayish white and the eyes are a dark brown. Barred owls range from 16 to 25 inches in length with a wingspan of 38 to 50 inches.
Females are larger than the males.
They are found throughout North Carolina, primarily in swamps, river bottoms, and moist woodlands. They prey on a wide variety of animals, including small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects, other birds and sometimes even fish. Mice seem to be the preferred item in their diet. Like other owls, the barred owl has the unusual habit of coughing up pellets of undigested hair and bone from its prey. Owl pellets are often found beneath a favoured roosting tree, indicating where an owl spends it daytime hours resting after a night of hunting.