Answers to Go with Susan Smith
Q. I was out walking at dusk when a huge bird hurtled through the trees and landed on a power line overhead. I see big buzzards every night, but this bird seemed more compact and powerful. I think it must have been an owl, but it was silent and too dark to identify any markings. What are the most common big owls in our part of Texas?
A . After checking “Birds of Texas” by Rappole and Blacklock, it seems likely that it was a great horned owl. This owl is a permanent resident found throughout Texas. This owl frequents woodlands and patrons the mentioned trees. This is truly an impressive bird in flight with its 52-inch wingspan.
The other large owl listed is the snowy owl, but it is visits northern and Central Texas in the winter so we can rule that one out.
Let’s focus on the great horned owl. It’s been my experience that the most interesting books on animals tend to be found in the children’s area. Authors of fine children’s books write clearly, with the focus on fascinating details.
My opinion was reinforced when I looked at “Tiger with Wings: The Great Horned Owl” which was written by Barbara Juster Esbensen and has beautiful, detailed illustrations by Mary Barrett Brown.
Esbensen writes about the anatomical features that make great horned owls such successful birds of prey. She writes, “Owls that hunt at night have soft edges on their flight feathers. Owl bones are paper thin and filled with air, so the great wings give the owl a tremendous amount of lift.
“When the owl pumps its wings, the rushing air is trapped in the soft feathers, and the sound is muffled. The great horned owl must fly silently so that it can hear the slightest sound. If its own wings made any noise, it would not be able to locate its prey.
“Although the feathery horns on the great horned owl’s head look like ears, they are only feathers. The owl’s real ears are long narrow holes on either side of its skull. Scientists believe that great horned owls probably use their amazing sense of hearing even more than their sharp eyesight…
“Owls are the only birds with an outer ear too — a small thin flap of skin that catches sound waves just the way human ears do. The ear flap is slightly higher on one side of the great horned owl’s head than on the other side. This positioning lets sound into the ears from different directions.
“Like its ears, the great horned owl’s eyes are perfectly suited for life as a nighttime hunter. All owls can see in daylight, and a few owls fly and hunt during the day. But because the great horned owl’s eyes are extremely sensitive to light, it hunts at night and sleeps during the day.
“The great horned owl’s eyes are one hundred times more acute than human eyes. They can be focused instantly to see either near or far…. It sees only in black and white. But the smallest amount of light from a few stars is enough to let this owl hunt at night...
“Like the eyes in a human face, both of the owl’s eyes face forward, so that owls, like humans, have binocular vision. This means that owls see things as rounded shapes, not flat, and lets them judge distances very accurately…
“The owl’s big eyes don’t move from side to side the way human eyes do. To see something to the right or left, an owl must turn its head. People have seven neck bones, so a person can look no further than over each shoulder. The owl has 14 very flexible neck bones. It can actually swivel it head to see what’s directly behind it. Then the owl can whip its head to the front again so fast it looks almost as though it has revolved completely — like a spinning top…
“Thirty-six million years ago, great horned owls flew through the dark skies of our world. Fossil remains show that they have changed very little since then.”
