What is a barn owl thinking?

Barn owls have ears set at different heights on the skull, so a sound reaches one fractionally before the other. That tiny gap is what lets the bird place a mouse vertically as well as horizontally, and it can do it in complete darkness with no visual cue at all.

The face is part of the equipment. That flat white disc is a dish, angled to funnel sound toward the ears — the owl is not looking at you so much as pointing at you.