Feb 17 2012
Owls have some very clever and keen adaptions to hunt, fly and see at night.
Feathers:
The leading edges of their wings have special feathers which are adapted for silent flying. The barbules do not have hooks, so the feather looks floppy and without form. This enables the owl to fly silently while trying to grab or listen for its prey.
Ears:
An owl’s ear openings are on the side of the head, asymmetrical, one ear slightly above the other. This is so that when they are listening for prey they can triangulate faster and zero in to their prey.
The ear tufts you see on some species are thought to be for display, rather than any real function.
Their special ability is to pin-point the origin of sounds. They are especially sensitive to high frequencies such as the rustling of dry leaves.
Sight:
The huge discs around the eyes of the owl serve a double purpose. One is to funnel sound to the ears, and the other to catch light to allow the owls to see in extremely low light.
Binocular vision in raptors allows them to judge distances more accurately, and to see more clearly and in better detail than monocular vision.
For night vision they have bigger eyes with a lot more light-sensitive rods, but at the expense of detail. Their vision is grainy compared to the really sharp vision of diurnal birds.
By Jo De Wilde - Tswalu Guide
