INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT OWLS

My last blog was about Birds of prey, however I only really covered Raptors and a little on eagles so I thought I’d continue with a blog on interesting facts about fascinating owls.

Owls are famous for their ability to see at night. Although they cannot see in complete darkness, they only need the slightest amount of light to be able to see.

Their hearing is even better. Owls have long ear openings, around the same legnth as their heads! In some owls, one ear sits higher on one side of their head than the other ear. This makes it easier for them to work out where sounds are coming from.

Owls do not build their own nests. Instead the live in holes in trees, abandoned nests, abandoned buildings, barns or even bridges. One owl species, the ferocious Great Horned Owl, sometimes even takes over inhabited Hawkes nests, killing the occupying parent and baby hawks!

These nocturnal birds tend to hide and rest during the day.
Unlike other birds of prey, owls fly slowly and silently to surprise their prey. Their wings are covered on the outer edges with large, serated feathers which give a soft frayed edge which deadens the noise of their wing beats so that their prey does not hear them coming.

Another fascinating feature of the owl is that they can turn their heading in every direction by a whopping 360 degrees!

Owls range in size from the tiny and cute Elf owl which only weighs 40 grams to The European Eagle Owl which is a huge 3kg.

Barn owls can be a farmers’ best friend as they are great at controlling pests.
They love to live on farms as there are many rodents, birds and rabbits to hunt. They are known for living in barns but are happy to live anywhere sheltered and quiet. They will eat domestic birds up to the size of ducks!

They are well known hunters so even other birds tend to stay away from areas where they spot an owl perching. That is why Owl decoys, particularly ones with large open wings, are an effective bird control and rodent control measure.
The Prowler Owl Decoy together with a sonic bird deterrent which makes sounds of predator birds and bird distress calls, can be a most powerful bird deterrent for our Bird Control Australia customers.

For centuries the owl has been associated with wisdom, hence the therm “wise as an owl”. The owl was also associated with Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. We do love owls not only for their wisdom and beauty. What a magnificent creature!