Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes, which includes about 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers adapted for silent flight. Exceptions include the diurnal northern hawk-owl and the gregarious burrowing owl.
Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish. They are found in all regions of the Earth except polar ice caps and some remote islands.
Owls are divided into two families: the true (or typical) owl family, Strigidae, and the barn-owl family, Tytonidae.
This description uses material from the Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owl, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0