As beautiful a barn owl is and
everybody loves it but a white shape leaving a barn without any sounds or in a
field will be all we ever see of a barn owl in its natural habitat, if we are
lucky. If you would see a barn owl closed up you can admire the golden-buff
upper parts with a white heart-shaped face. White belly and long feathered
legs. The name derived from the owl nesting in barns, ruins and church towers.
Her natural sites are cliff holes and hollow trees.
The barn owl does have particular
good night vision it also has to have an exceptional good hearing to find
its prey
Both species, the predator has to
have more than a perfect hearing to pinpoint its prey. The prey relies on its
fine hearing to survive and listens to any warning sounds.
To enable the barn owl to hunt in the
dark successfully it has to have a hearing so sharp to pinpoint the source
with incredible accuracy.
The barn owl main diet is mice,
shrews and voles. It can pick up the smallest rustle of a mouse in the
undergrowth. The owl can fly absolutely noiseless and is therefore able to come
within striking distance of its prey without being heard.
When the owl has located its kill it
follows the mouse with every twist and turn. It is unbelievable because of the
zig zag movement of a mouse but it aligns its talons along the mouse's body.
The barn owl is equipped with two
oval depressions in the tightly packed feathers on either side of its beak.
Through each depression the sound received goes through a funnel into the ear-hole.
These sounds can be picked from a wide area just like a satellite dish
concentrates radio waves onto the antenna. This makes the owl having a superior
sound location system.
The owl's hearing system is so
sophisticated because her ears are on different level. Her right ear is higher
than the left ear. Furthermore, the depression on her right tilts upwards to
enable her to hear sounds from above. The depression on the left tilts down to
pick up sounds from below. Therefore, the owl receive constantly sounds of
different level, only sound which are ahead and at eye level, sound the same.
Therefore, she can pinpoint the
exactly position of her prey with a whisker.
Another fascinating feature the barn
owl has is her shape of her face. It is heart shaped to increase the flow of
sound to her ears, which are on different level.
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