It is early twilight. The night is alive with the rustle of leaves and the songs of insects.
An owl abandons the retreat where its days are spent in blissful slumber. Now is the
time for hunting, and it is searching for the perfect perch from which to watch for its prey.
With more than 200 species of owls, they can be found in every type of habitat.
These majestic hunters are generally categorized into two families: tytonidae [ty-TONE-uh-die], or
heart-faced owls, and strigidae [STRI-juh-die], or true round-faced owls. Females are almost always
larger than males, and contrary to storybooks, not all owls “hoot.” They can scream, screech,
growl, and even bark! The largest owl, the Blakiston’s fish owl, can
reach a size of 60-71 centimeters or 23-28 inches long, while the smallest owl, the elf owl, can be
as small as 13 centimeters (or about 5 inches) long. A group of owls is called a parliament.
These secretive nocturnal creatures are capable of silent flight thanks to a unique velvety texture
on the tops of their feathers, which produce very little swishing noise during flight.
Their large wing feathers have serrated edges, which produce almost no sound as air flows
over their surfaces. The feet and legs also have feathers that muffle the sounds of flight.
The colors of owls’ feathers are well suited to their environments
and serve to camouflage the owls, keeping them hidden while hunting and resting.
The feather tufts on an owl’s head are often mistaken for ears, but they are not. The ears
are located on the sides of the head just behind the eyes, and one ear sits slightly
lower on the head than the other. An owl’s sense of hearing is ten times more acute than humans’.
That sensitive hearing is vital for finding prey hidden by vegetation, soil, and even snow.
Owls have enormous eyes with terrific far-sighted vision. The color of an
owl’s eyes can indicate its hunting habits. Orange eyes indicate crepuscular [kreh-PUSK-yoo-ler] or
twilight hunting, brown or black eyes indicate nocturnal or night-time hunting, and yellow eyes
indicate diurnal or daytime hunting. Unlike most animals, an owl's eyes don’t move in the sockets,
nor are they round. They are tube-shaped, which provides better distance and depth perception.
The fixed eyes are forward-facing, so the owl has to move its entire head to see around its
environment. Owls can turn their heads 270 degrees and even upside down! This type of head movement
is possible because of the amazing design of the owl's neck and circulatory system.
Moving like this should break the bones in an owl’s neck or cut off the blood supply
to its brain. Instead, God designed these beautiful birds with a unique blood pooling
system that allows the brain to continue functioning while the circulation is cut off.
Owls are opportunistic hunters, taking advantage of available prey,
even if they aren’t hungry. In such cases, the owl will hide its kills to eat later.
When they’re in hunting flight, owls hold their legs back against their bodies, but when they’re
ready to catch their prey, they swing their legs forward and spread their talons wide.
An owl’s feet and talons are its greatest weapons. Talons are used to grasp and
squeeze their prey with great force. Owls and their fellow raptor relative, the Osprey,
are the only birds of prey that can reverse the direction of their outer toes. Having two
toes in front and two toes behind allows the claws to surround the prey for a better grip.
An owl’s mouth is much larger than its beak. Once an owl catches its prey, it usually swallows it
whole. This creates an interesting problem when it comes to digestion. The acid in an owl's stomach
isn't capable of digesting all the parts of its meal. Once the digestible parts go through the
stomach acids, all the leftover parts such as fur, teeth, and bones are coughed up in what we call
an “owl pellet.” When studied, these pellets tell us a great deal about an owl’s diet.
As stealthy, silent creatures of the night and ruthless predators with fascinating skills,
it’s no wonder that owls have captured the admiration of people for centuries.