Owls are mystifying feathered creatures with both beautiful and haunting qualities that give them their well-deserved eerie reputation. Numbering at around 200 different species, these nocturnal birds of prey have a lot of features that make them unique. Here are a few of them:
1. Silent flight
We can usually hear most birds fly, but when it comes to owls, their quiet flight is almost ghostly. Owls are known to be silent hunters, giving no warning to the prey. They have special feathers on their wings allowing them to breakdown turbulence, creating a smooth and soundless aerial navigation.
2. Head-turning experience
These elegant birds have an interesting bodily function that many people are familiar with: they can turn their necks 270 degrees. This is possible due to the fact that they have a blood pooling system that allows them to turn their heads that far without losing any blood to the brain.
3. Super hearing
Many owls have asymmetrical ears that help them pinpoint sounds and locate prey with great ease. Other owls use their flat faces with special features to locate sounds like a large super ear. Nothing gets past them!
4. Tubes for eyes
Owls don't have spherical eyeballs. Instead, their eyes are tube-shaped that go far back into their heads, giving them extreme binocular vision. Being far-sighted, this allows them to focus on their prey easily, but up close, everything is quite blurry.
5. Rodent control
These night hunters eat a lot of rodents, making them perfect for pest control. Many farmers around the world install owl nesting boxes so that they can attract owls to their area, hoping they’ll feast on the rodents destroying their crops. This is a much safer and cheaper form of pest control without the use of poison, all the while giving owls a nutritious meal.
Owls are mysterious creatures that not many people truly understand, but that’s what makes them so beautiful. If you want to know more about these silent beauties, try reading The House of Owls, by Tony Angell. The author’s remarkable and personal account of owls will captivate your curiosity. Find that and more on our online library www.plotive.com. Otherwise, part 2 of this owl series is coming soon. Stay tuned!
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