Observant Owls By: Kohlson Tueller
Table of contents What is a owl?... 1 How do owls work?... 2 Where do owls Live?... 3 Types of Owls... 4 Hunter... 6 Younglings... 7 The Hunt of Owls... 8 Glossary... 9
What is a Owl? An Owl is called a Strigiforme. A strigiforme is a scientific name for a Owl. An owls head can turn around. An owls head can turn around only 270 degrees, it can also turn its head to check for prey, danger, and predators. Owls have amazing hearing. Owls use there hearing for hearing distant sounds of prey, predators, storms, and humans, but owls don't have ears, they have feathers around there eyes and these feathers use sound waves.
How do Owls Work? How do owls fly? Owls have fringe on the edge of their wing, the fringe breaks the flow of the wind, this makes wind give no sound of the owl coming straight towards the prey. How do Owls kill there prey in midair? First, Owls check for sightings of prey, Next after it hears the sighting, it glides down at the prey, Then it readies it talons and spreads out its wings once it gets close enough, Last it glides up a bit, then goes down again, and lands on top of the prey, clasping its talons around the prey.
Where do Owls Live? Some owls live in trees, but did you know that s not only where they live! Some Owls may live in abandoned burrows. They also live in open fields, caves, and abandoned houses. Where ever the owls live has a different supply of prey (mice, snakes, lizards, etc.). Owls are found everywhere except Antarctica. Burrowing owls in there burrow.
Types of Owls There are many species of owl. So of them are the northern spotted owl, snowy owl, tawny owl, and many more. There are 260 type of owls. The Northern spotted Owl is a medium-sized owl, its feathers are chestnut brown with white spots, around its head its sand brown. The Tawny owl is most seen in Europe and Britain. It's colors are mostly seen in Europe and Britain. It's color's are grey and red with black and white streaks. The Snowy Owl is North America's largest Owl. It's color is white with brown spots. The Eastern Screech Owl lives in the east of the Rocky Mountains. Its feathers are maroon-brown. The great-horned Owl is mostly seen in America, They can be recognized easily, because of the tufts on there head. Its colors are mud-brown with black and white mixed. The Eurasian Eagle owl is among the largest owl, its colors are walnut and black.
Elf owls are the smallest owl in the Sonoran Desert. There feathers are color is grayish-brown and white. The burrowing owl is one of the smallest owls in North America. They have brown white spotted feathers. It is named the burrowing owl cause it in abandoned rabbit holes, and burrows. The barn owl is a medium-sized and flat faced owl. There feathers are white with golden-brown spots and streaks. The barred owl is one of Utah's most common owl. It is colored grayish-brown mixed with sand color.
Hunter Owls hunt a variety of prey which include mice, moles, rabbits, insects, small birds, and small mammals. Owls also hunt other owls younglings. Owls eat there prey whole, because of this what it can not digest, stores in its gizzard (A part of the stomach). Strong muscles push these indigestible parts into a owl pellet. Scientists study these pellets to see what owls eat, since owls stay in one place all year.
Younglings Younglings are only tiny and fluffy when first hatched, when about a week old, they are starting to have feathers. When the younglings are 53 days old their feathers grow larger and the color starts to appear, as they get ready to fly, When the younglings are about a year old they are finally ready to fly! Many younglings die of starvation or freezing before they can fly, some are also killed by hunters or predators.
Glossary Abandoned- left alone; not in use Antarctica- an icy continent degrees-a measurement of turning digest- a product of digestion fringe-outskirt of an owls feather gizzard- a part of a birds stomach Indigestible- unable to digest scientific-used by scientists sighting- something in sight starvation- starving in a period of time talons-claws of a bird variety- a group; a bunch