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BARRED OWL
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Greensboro, NC |
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Barred Owl |
| This bird was in Starmount Park, Greensboro, NC on 5/13/06 |
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Introduction Named for the brown, barred ruff on its chest, the Barred Owl is a large, barrel-shaped owl of deciduous wood-lands and older neighborhoods and parks. With its big round, brown eyes and somber expression, the Barred Owl looks very wise as it gives its familiar hooting call, “who-cooks-for-you, who-cooks-for-you-all.” Cool Facts Unlike most other birds, owls' eyes face forward and cannot move. This allows for excellent depth perception, but a narrow field of view. In order to see to the sides and behind, an owl can rotate its head 3/4 of the way around, 270 degrees in either direction. Barred Owls, generally nocturnal hunters, are one of the few owls who might also be out and about during the day. They have a special inner eyelid which blocks bright sunlight - owl sunglasses! Barred Owls eat other birds, reptiles, invertebrates, and small mammals (including skunks!). They will wade into water to catch fish, turtles, and crayfish; a diet rich in the latter turns their belly feathers pink. Owls have such an acute sense of hearing they can pinpoint prey by sound alone. Along with large eardrums and facial disks that funnel sound waves to the ears, one ear is higher on the head than the other. This allows the owl to hear if the sound is coming from above or below as well as horizontally. |
