Owls are special creatures with different life-styles and behaviors, as well as being stars in movies such as Harry Potter series. Here are a few fun facts about owls.
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- 1. The Great Horned Owl is the only predator that will regularly eat skunks.
- 2. Great Horned Owls will eat other owls
- 3. Barn Owls are found the world over.
- 4. Many owl species have asymmetrical ears
- 5. The smallest owl in the world is the Elf Owl
- 6. What about those eyes?
- 7. So do those eyes really work well at a distance?
- 7. What about the neck, can the owl rotate its head 360 Degrees?
- 8. A group of owls is called a parliament.
- 9. Owls have special feathers that muffle their sound of their wingbeats.
- 10. Owls have a reputation of being active at night.
1. The Great Horned Owl is the only predator that will regularly eat skunks.
Great Horned Owls eat smaller mammals and even other birds, so the Great Horned Owls eating skunks shouldn’t really be that surprising. Skunks are generally pretty well protected by their defense mechanism, but owls don’t have a sense of smell.
2. Great Horned Owls will eat other owls
Great Horned Owls are known for eating birds too. They can even hunt down and eat hawks and smaller owls, including my favorite owl, the Barred Owl.
3. Barn Owls are found the world over.
Their range includes North America, South America, Europe, Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Australia. They swallow their prey whole: skin, bones, and all. Barn Owls may eat up to 1,000 mice each year. They regurgitate the un-digestable items in a ball called an owl pellet. Owls can be hard to find when roosting. Finding owl pellets is sometimes the easiest way to find an owl roosting location.
4. Many owl species have asymmetrical ears
Usually, one ear is slightly higher on the head than the other. Owls have extremely good hearing and the slightly offset location of the ears helps them hone in on the exact location of a sound.
5. The smallest owl in the world is the Elf Owl
Elf Owls are around 5 – 6 inches tall and weigh about 1 ½ ounces.
The largest North American owl, in length, is the Great Gray Owl, which is up to 32 inches tall. Owls such as the Eurasian Eagle Owl are not as long but are heavier.
6. What about those eyes?
The eyes are fixed and are more of tube-shape than round. They can not be moved to allow the owl to peak to the right or left without moving their head. Unlike many birds, their eyes are on the front of their face, more human like from that perspective, and provides the owl with great depth perception.
7. So do those eyes really work well at a distance?
The Northern Hawk Owl can detect a vole up to a half a mile away. A combination of sight and sound help it pinpoint its prey. And when they do locate it, they are ready to defeat it with their powerful legs and claws.
7. What about the neck, can the owl rotate its head 360 Degrees?
To compensate for not being able to move their eyes, Owls can rotate their necks 270 degrees. A blood-pooling system stores blood to power their brains and eyes when the head rotates so far the blood to the is cut off.
8. A group of owls is called a parliament.
This expression is thought to originate from C.S. Lewis’ description of a meeting of owls in The Chronicles of Narnia.
9. Owls have special feathers that muffle their sound of their wingbeats.
This allows them to move silently through the forest in search of prey.
10. Owls have a reputation of being active at night.
Some species are a little more active during the day than on might think. The Barred Owl and the Short-eared Owl are crepuscular are active near dawn and at dusk. Short-eared owls hunt by silently gliding over open fields, in a behavior similar to the hunting style of the Northern Harrier.
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