Recently I was in a waiting room at my dentist office and I decided to flip through the pages of
a Birds & Blooms magazine. There was an article about Owls and all the myths associated with them. I personally have always liked Owls, and as I've gotten older I seem to like them even
more. I just didn't realize how many "myths" were associated with these birds. One of the
fascinating myths the magazine article decided to uncover was the one that all owls are nocturnal.
It turns out this is not true, there are some species of this bird that are awake at all times of the day.
This is especially true if food is scarce for these predators. Another myth that I once believed to
be true, was that Owls can see in complete darkness. This is definitely not the case, it seems the
eyes are not the keys for a successful night capturing their prey, their sense of hearing is what aid them
in their hunt. It's the Owls facial disk that locates the prey for these birds, they can hear the quietest
of sounds because of funnel indentations by their eyes that direct the sounds directly to their ears. There
is also the myth that female and male Owls are the same, when in fact female Owls are forty percent
larger than male Owls. Scientists are not sure as to why the females are so much larger than the males,
they can only go by the theory that it may be for better nest protection but again this has not been scientifically proven. Their plumage is almost the same as in most birds, where the males have the more magnificent colors and markings. The most fascinating of my myth discoveries however is the fact that
Owls do not hate water! They like to bathe and of course drink water, and depending on the species
and where it lives it may actually use a residential birdbath. I believe there will always be a fascination
between humans and Owls, whether it's the spooky images that come to mind whenever someone
mention and Owl or it's the wise old friendly Owl you may recognise from Winnie The Pooh and various Walt Disney cartoons.
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that your blog post was generated from a chance encounter with a Bird & Blooms magazine in the dentist office. Brilliant!
Some of the myths you shared are pretty interesting. It took me back to biology class when we dissected owl pellets. It was incredible the things you would find that the owl had eaten.