A key question being asked on google currently about owl behaviour relates to their sleep patterns and specifically why owls sleep during the day. Owls need plenty of sleep just like humans do to function well and this is preferably around 12 hours sleep. But why do owls choose to sleep during the day rather than at night?
The short answer is that owls sleep during the day because most owls are nocturnal creatures. A longer explanation is that most owls are nocturnal because there are huge benefits to being active at night rather than active during the day. These benefits include more effective hunting, higher prey availability, less prey competition, the owl is safer from their own predators and more. Please read on to find out more about why sleeping during the day is beneficial for owls.
The term nocturnal means that owls sleep during the day and wake in the evening/night/early morning hours. It is important to note that not all owls are nocturnal, check out my other post here about which owls are nocturnal. It has been said that approximately 70% of owls are nocturnal.
Owls benefit from being mainly nocturnal because if they sleep during the day they can reap the benefits of being active at night, when most other animals are sleeping. They are built to thrive during the night time due to their impressive night vision which allows the owl to see 100 yards away, their intricate hearing abilities which is four times stronger than their sight and lastly their ability to stalk and attack pray effectively in almost silence.
You are probably not surprised to hear that the main thing that nocturnal owls do at night is hunt. They are brilliant night hunters because they have silent flight which means they fit in perfectly well with the silence of the night. Owls also have incredible hearing which means they do not need to rely solely on their sight (even though their sight is also impressive) when hunting and flying so doing these things in the dark isn’t an issue for owls. By hunting at night, they don’t have as much competition for their prey as most animals will hunt during the day. By hunting at night, owls can also stalk their prey when it is sleeping and sneak up on the prey when they are at their most vulnerable, thinking that they are hidden in the darkness of the night. At night, most animals are more vulnerable so by being awake, owls can be alert in case of any predators lurking around in the dark and would be prepared to fend for themselves.
During their active hours within the night when owls are not hunting they are locating other essential items needed to survive ready for morning to come when they will begin their rest.
During the day, owls catch up on their rest and get as much sleep as they can. This is often in the form of many shorter naps rather than one long sleep. This is because sleep isnt the only activity owls complete during the day. Owls have often located shelter and a desired nest site during the night when they were active but will often make the move to hijack a nest site during the day. This is because owls do not create their own nest sites they just steal ready-made sites from other bird species. Most bird species are active during the day therefore when is better to hijack a nest than when the owner of the nest is out hunting? Owls will hijack these nests between their naps.
During the day when they are not asleep, owls will do other activities that they can do while resting/roosting such as preening. Preening is important to owls to keep clean and to relax. Just like how a human will come home from a long day at work and have a nice hot bath to wind down and do some self-care, owls will do the equivalent to this after a long night hunting by preening while they roost.
As mentioned, not all owls are nocturnal so some owls will not sleep during the day and may be active and hunting etc. Some owls who are nocturnal will sometimes hunt in the day if their hunting during the night was unsuccessful or if they didn’t have the right circumstances to hunt during the night and therefore they need food. Owls are not waterproof therefore if there is heavy rainfall or a storm during the night, nocturnal owls have been known to wait until morning and hunt when the weather improves. Nocturnal owls can vary from their usual schedules if needed but they just prefer not to as they have their own body clocks that naturally brings them alive at night and makes them ready to rest in the day.
In conclusion, owls sleep during the day because most owl species are nocturnal which means their active hours are during the night. Since they spend the night hunting and expelling plenty of energy, they make up for this by sleeping during the day. Being active at night means that owls are hunting without much competition for their prey and are simultaneously safer from their predators that would attempt to hunt them at night because the owl is in a state of activity and alertness. Please note though that not all owls are nocturnal so around 30% of owls don’t sleep during the day.