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Caption: Owls in Flight Paul Ojuara
Caption: The flight of Burrowing owls is with irregular, jerky wingbeats and they will frequently make long glides, interspersed with rapid wingbeats. They are comparatively easy to see (and photograph) because they are often active in daylight, and can be surprisingly bold and approachable.
#conservationstory
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Caption: Their flight is silent, low, and undulating with quick flaps and a glide.
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Caption: Owls are known as silent predators of the night, capable of flying just inches from their prey without being detected. The quietness of their flight is due to their specialized feathers.
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Caption: When air rushes over an ordinary wing, it typically creates a “gushing” noise as large areas of air turbulence build up. But the owl has a few ways to alter this turbulence and reduce its noise.
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Caption: First, the leading edge of the owl’s wing has feathers covered in small structures (hooks and bows) that break up the flowing air into smaller, micro-turbulences.
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Caption: These smaller areas of turbulence then roll along the owl’s wing toward the trailing edge, which is comprised of a flexible fringe.
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Caption: This fringe breaks up the air further as it flows off the trailing edge, resulting in a large reduction in aerodynamic noise.
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Caption: Then, any remaining noise that would be detectable by the owl’s prey is absorbed by velvety down feathers on the owl’s wings and legs.
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Caption: These soft feathers absorb high frequency sounds that most prey, as well as humans, are sensitive to.
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Caption: This text is an excerpt from an article by www.asknature.org.
The full article can be reached at http://bit.ly/1HP61D6.
Please check it out.
All pictures by Paul Ojuara
Photography © Paul Ojuara 2015
All rights reserved
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