OWLS HAVE OVER 100 SPECIES

LONG-EARED OWL

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There are well over 100 species of owls in the world. They are capable to live in any habitat and always recognizable as owls.

Evidence was found that the first owl-like bird was living in the late Mesozoic era which was between 248 and 65 million years ago. Between 65 and 40 million years which was the Eocene era a number of owls was living in Europe. Between ten and 25 million years the owl evolved into the characteristics species we know today.

The owl’s characteristics features are a large head and face. In the face are two big, round, forward-looking eyes with a facial disc of feathers. The exception is the barn owl which has a heart-shaped one. Their bill is short, sharply down-curved with the nostrils are at its base.

CHARACTERISTICS

On a whole the owls have a soft plumage, a short square tail and large rounded wings. Owls which live in the forests have shorter wings than the ones living on open countrysides. Their wings seem large in comparison to their body weight. This avoids frequent wing flapping and enables them to glide. Another remarkable point is that their flight feathers are soft which give a silent flight. This is import for hunting in the night.

Their colour of their feather blends well in with their environment. This prevents detection during the day when the bird is resting or sleeping. Owls living in the forests have a brown colour while birds living in the open have a light colour plumage. The feathers are down over their toes except the fishing owls. Their outer toes can move forward or backward to enable the bird to hold onto the branches or their prey.

The female is slightly larger than the male but the colour is the same. Only the Snowy Owl the male is completely white and the female is barred with brownish stripes.

SNOWY OWL

It is well known that they have exceptional vision and hearing. Their eyes are able to hunt in poor light. Since their eyes are directed forward it gives them a binocular vision. However, the most remarkable thing is that they can rotate their head almost 180 degrees in either direction. This achieves a wider field of vision.

Their ears are to be found on either side of their facial discs. Some owls have one ear bigger than the other up to 50 per cent and placed higher. They all have a large inner ear and many more nerve cells than other birds. This enables the owl to hear in complete darkness and even movement under cover, even under snow. Some species have ear duffs but it does not increase their hearing

SHORT-EARED OWL

HABITS

Most of the owls are hunting at night. The exception is the Little Owls living in southern Britain and Europe. The Short-eared Owl living in Britain and Eurasia. The two species living in the Arctic, The Hawk Owl and Snowy Owl hunt in light nights during the Arctic summer and in the few hours of daylight in the winter.

During the day the owls perch on a favourite place. Some nestle in a hollow on the grand and a few live in a burrows. 

NORTHERN HAWK OWL

The Scops owl living in central and southern Europe does migrate for the winter to north Africa. Some owls are nomadic like the Hawk Owl and Grey Owl. They follow the food supply.

GREAT GREY OWL

TAWNY OWL

They have a great variety of calls and are very vocal, apart from their hooting sound. The tawny owl warns intruders off, uses it in the mating season and tells the female it is coming to the nest with food, all with the familiar hooting sound. But it also uses other sound. The Eagle owl at mating season calls up to 600 times a night; in a variety of calls. The Pygmy Owl the smallest of the European owl but being the noisiest with a great variety. All the chick use a variety to make it known they are hungry.

FEEDING

Owls' diet is completely of live food. It varies where they live but mostly their feed on mice, voles, shrews, rats, lemmings, rabbits and mountain hares, Furthermore, they eat earthworm, insects, snakes, other reptiles, fish and crustacean. They also catch other smaller birds. Eagle owls catch hedgehogs and know how to avoid the spines, tarring open their skins to get to the flesh. Africa's Pels Fishing owl sits on a branch above the water and catches the fish with its talons.

Most night the owl sits on ideal spot and watch and dives down silently at its prey. The divide the area into section and hunt systematically. The prey, if small, is swallowed whole, head first. The indigestible part is compressed and ejected through the mouth. This is done in daytime when the owl is resting. They eat usually 18 to 40 per cent of their body weight. Scop owls eat more. Also the smaller owls eat more than the bigger one.

BREEDING

The breeding season seems to depend on supply of food and climate. If the food supply is plenty they start earlier and have more eggs. When the food supply is little they have one or two eggs or none at all. Some owl pair for life and others the male mates with many females. Not many owls make a nest. They take over birds' nest or lay their eggs in hollow trees. Some put grass or straw in their nests. The African March owl has a nest on the ground. The desert owls will nest in burrows left behind by rodents.

After having decided on their place where to lay their eggs; they lay from one egg to 14 eggs. Again it depends of the food supply. They lay their eggs over a few days but she sits on her egg the moment she laid the first one. This has a good reason for when the food is short; the first chick gets fed while the younger one starves. The time of incubation takes about 24 to 36 days and the male brings food to the nest.

The chicks hatch with their ears and eyes closed. They are covered with a soft fluffy dawn. After a second dawn the true feathers appear. Their eyes open in the second week. When the chick gets bigger she also flies off and brings food. Between three and ten weeks the young one will leave the nest. They are able to breed after one year.

TAWNY CHICKS LEAVE THEIR NEST