Owls- The Night watchers

Owls are night flying birds. They sleep all the day and start hunting in the night. They are birds of prey. They have a very good night vision. Also their hearing is so clear that they locate the prey by sound itself. They are classified as Nocturnal group of creatures, which is of animals active at nights. The calls of an owl are very typical and have a frightful effect in the darkness.

It is estimated that there are 134 species of owls in the world. They are different in size and color. Some of them are Barn owl, Burrowing owl, Great Gray owl, Screech owl and Snow owl. Many of these names are derived from their shape and color. They do live in all types of places irrespective of the climatic conditions. Owl appears to be big and fat. But the big size is due to their loose and fluffy feather. Their wings have soft edge feathers for a noiseless fly.

They are keen watchers of the night. They listen to all kinds of sounds including the sound of moth wings. They hunt rodents mainly and in this way they are useful to mankind. The smaller species of owls eat moths and other insects. Large owls can eat mice, rabbits, snakes etc. The big ones hunt smaller owls too. Its beak is very sharp and helps them to tear the body of a large prey. Indigestible bones and other portions are coughed up in the form of a compact wad. It is called pellet. Owls used to raid the nests of other birds when they sleep. Owls are the most awful enemies of crows. The owls try to leap on sleeping crows, and in return, if an owl is appeared before crows in the daytime, the entire mob of crows will attack it.

Their eyes are so large and special that anybody will notice it. Their eyes have dark pupils and in the darkness the pupil can widen to the entire size of the eye. The peculiarity is that the eyes are fixed and owl has to turn the head to look around. It can rotate the head to look backward. The eye sockets hold the eyeball very strongly and it helps the owl to have a very long and straight vision. It is highly helpful in hunting in the night. Their eyes have a third eyelid too. It is very transparent and meant for cleaning and moisturizing. Their ears are hidden inside a fold of skin on each side of the head.

Owl calls are varied from species to species. In the mating season, their calls can be heard frequently. During the other seasons they call back and forth to know about one another’s movements.

Nests are also different for different species. Some have it on the ground and some nest underground. Most of them are living in tree holes or cavities. They use deserted nest of other birds too. Their eggs are white in color, but the size varies as their own body size. They lay two to seven eggs at a time. Newborn owls are fed by their parents with regurgitated food. Soon they start eating torn bits of prey. After six weeks from birth, they are able to fly and they leave the nest for hunting themselves.

Their active life in the night gives a mystery nature to them. They are harmless to humans and in one way helpful too, by reducing the population of the rodents.

Linus Orakles
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