Just Hooting Around
Hey everyone! In the spirit of the Halloween month, I thought we might talk about some of the “spooky” animals associated with Halloween for the next couple of weeks. This week, we’ll talk about Owls. These really cool animals have a lot of adaptations, but they can be kind of freaky to come across in the middle of the night.
Owls. Photo from http://www.audubon.org
Owls live on every continent except Antarctica (not that I blame them, I’m not a fan of subzero temperatures!). They also live in a variety of different habitats including marsh, forest, cave, and desert. Owls can be very small (smallest in the world: Elf Owl at 5 inches long ) or very large (largest in the world: Great Grey Owl at about 28 inches long ).
Elf Owl. Photo from en.wikipedia.org
Great Grey Owl. Photo from en.wikipedia.org
Owls have very large eyes.
Great Horned Owl eyes. Photo by Bill Frymire, found on http://www.billfrymire.com/blog/win-a-free-print/eyes-great-horned-owl-intense/
In fact, the eyes of Owls take up almost the entire skull, making it impossible for the owl to actually move their eyes. They cannot look left, right, up, or down, without moving their head. That is why owls are always staring.
Great Horned Owl Skull. Picture from http://www.skullsunlimited.com
Owls make up for this lack of eye movement with an increased flexibility in their necks. Sorry to disappoint, but owls cannot rotate their heads completely around for 360 degrees. If they could, they wouldn’t have a neck, and their head would roll off (Ewwww!)! They can, however, rotate their head way further than we can, about 3/4 of a circle around. They actually have an incredibly long neck (I know, they don’t look it), with twice as many bones in their neck then us.
Tawny Owl Skeleton. Diagram from http://www.owlpages.com
Owls also have great hearing. Their whole face is adapted to increase their hearing. That round distinctive face is adapted to increase their hearing, acting like a satellite dish, funneling sound waves towards their face and ears. The ears on owls are actually holes in the side of their head, not the little tufts of feathers that stick up on some owls. Their beak is even more flat against their face so that it doesn’t block the sound waves.
Barn Owl. Photo taken by Richard Knight, found on https://www.flickr.com/photos/dickiek/8140985038
Owls, like other birds of prey, have very sharp talons for grabbing their food. Owls don’t always catch their prey on every attempt made, so they must be sure that they won’t lose their meal after catching it. Their feet actually lock in the grabbing position, which prevents them from exerting extra energy to keep their feet closed. They also have feathered feet to stay warm and may also protect them from biting prey.
Great Horned Owl feet. Photo from http://www.owlpages.com
Finally, owls have this really cool adaptation called Silent Flight. This is important since other nocturnal animals also have really good hearing and t can be difficult to sneak up on them. An owl’s feather is actually fringed on the edges. This allows the feathers to catch less air, causing them to make less noise. Pretty awesome!
Owl Fringe Feather. Photo from http://www.owlpages.com
Now, some of the sounds owls make can be rather weird. Different owls have been said to make sounds similar to horses, dogs, and even monkeys! Talk about strange to hear in the middle of the night! The Barn Owl makes a very frightful screeching noise, sounding like a woman screaming, which can be very disheartening to hear on a still night. I recommend you to go on some birding sights such as What Bird.com and all about birds.org to listen to some of the strange sounds that owls make.
So now that you know all about owls, maybe you can go out and listen for their calls. You might even be lucky enough to see one. Don’t forget what I told you before about crows getting really mad around owls during the day (check out the blog post-Why is a Raven Like a Writing Desk?). See you next week for another Halloween Creature!
Remember,
The more knowledge you have, the less scary the world becomes.
Keep going outside and gaining more knowledge!