Barn Owls are so unique. Their eyesight is phenomenal because they don’t really have eyeballs like other creatures but instead they’re more like tubes (telescopes). With this in mind their eyes can’t roll different directions and this is why their vision is compensated by it being able to cover 360 degrees just by turning its head. I cringe every time I see one spin its head.
Another thing unique about Barn Owls is that when you see it fly off you can’t hear it like you can other large birds. They have special feathers that absorb the usual whooshing sounds wings make. This is why they’re such good hunters because their prey can’t hear them coming. Because they do make noise, Hawks dive down on their prey at around 70 miles per hour whereas Barn Owls are stealth and don’t worry about speed.
This one is going to be a little more difficult to explain but I’m going to give it a shot. A Barn Owl’s ears are set off balance in their location on the owl’s head and their hearing is extremely sensitive. This allows them to hone in on their prey’s position more effectively. In other words, if you or I heard something a little ways off we’d know what general direction it’s coming from so we could walk a straight line and possibly find where the sound came from; but there’s a possibility that it’s a little more to the left or to the right of where we headed. A Barn Owl hears out of one ear and knows the general direction then it gets another perspective from the positioning of its other ear.
I guess a good way of looking at it is if you were by yourself and heard a sound how effective would you be of identifying what it is and where it’s coming from compared to if you were standing with a friend and were able to get his perspective; there’s no doubt having someone with you would make the identification of the sound so much more effective and why a Barn Owls strategic hearing ability is so effective.
Besides being beautiful, the Barn Owl is amazing in so many ways. The only human I’ve ever seen that had the ability to turn her head like a Barn Owl was Linda Blair in The Exorcist.
Another thing unique about Barn Owls is that when you see it fly off you can’t hear it like you can other large birds. They have special feathers that absorb the usual whooshing sounds wings make. This is why they’re such good hunters because their prey can’t hear them coming. Because they do make noise, Hawks dive down on their prey at around 70 miles per hour whereas Barn Owls are stealth and don’t worry about speed.
This one is going to be a little more difficult to explain but I’m going to give it a shot. A Barn Owl’s ears are set off balance in their location on the owl’s head and their hearing is extremely sensitive. This allows them to hone in on their prey’s position more effectively. In other words, if you or I heard something a little ways off we’d know what general direction it’s coming from so we could walk a straight line and possibly find where the sound came from; but there’s a possibility that it’s a little more to the left or to the right of where we headed. A Barn Owl hears out of one ear and knows the general direction then it gets another perspective from the positioning of its other ear.
I guess a good way of looking at it is if you were by yourself and heard a sound how effective would you be of identifying what it is and where it’s coming from compared to if you were standing with a friend and were able to get his perspective; there’s no doubt having someone with you would make the identification of the sound so much more effective and why a Barn Owls strategic hearing ability is so effective.
Besides being beautiful, the Barn Owl is amazing in so many ways. The only human I’ve ever seen that had the ability to turn her head like a Barn Owl was Linda Blair in The Exorcist.
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