Page 18 - Boca Exposure - November '23

Page 18, Boca Exposure
Book Review

What An Owl Knows: The New using muscles at the base of the feathers, shifting from separate vocalizations:
six sorts of hoots, four
a resting state to the alertness of an active hunt. It’s
Science Of The World’s Most remarkable to watch an owl do this, adjust its facial disk types of chitters, and
Enigmatic Birds when it hears something interesting. It’s like the disk itself five kinds of squawks,
including an alarm
is a kind of aperture, an ‘eye,’ that opens wide to let in
more sound and bounce it toward the ears.” squawk like an eerie
By Nils A. Shapiro Note: The use of the term “ears,” in owls, even in such shriek. She also noted that
Author Jennifer species names as long-eared owls or short-eared owls, is the owls have nonvocal
Ackerman could just as confusing. The actual ears used by owls for listening are communication. When
well have retitled her vertical slits on the sides of their heads. they’re fearful or
book What We Know Owls are nocturnal, hunting at night for prey that agitated, they’ll hiss or
About Owls, packed as it includes most commonly – depending on the owl species clack their bills.”
is with many hundreds of and size – rodents, insects, mice, rabbits, squirrels, Perhaps the major
fascinating facts about the possums, lemmings in the case of snowy owls, and other reason why owls are
260 owl species to be found small mammals and birds. Because of their incredible so popular worldwide
throughout almost every hearing, and the fact that the unique design of their wings is their most instantly
continent, from the tiny elf enables them to swoop down on prey in complete silence, recognizable feature as the only bird whose big round
owl, the size of a pine cone they are among the natural world’s most efficient hunters. eyes face forward, like ours, in the front of their faces. All
only a few inches high, to the massive Eurasian eagle- They do not even have to be able to see their prey in order other birds’ eyes are situated on the sides of their heads.
owl that can take down a deer – or Blakiston’s fish owl, to be successful! But unlike we humans, who can move our eyes left and
the world’s biggest owl, the size of a fire hydrant with a “A Great Gray Owl is listening, always listening. Its right with a limited degree of peripheral vision in order to
6-foot wingspan! head rotates to glean the source of a sound. Its ears are so see what is happening on each side of us, an owl’s eyes
The recipient of numerous awards and fellowships acutely tuned, it can discern the faint footfall of a shrew are fixed facing forward. However, they make up for that
and author of five earlier successful books – including in the forest, the wingbeat of a Canada Jay, the muffled by being able to swivel their heads around in a way that
The Bird Way and national bestseller The Genius of Birds rustle of a vole tunneling deep beneath the snow. It will we cannot:
– Ackerman’s own awe and appreciation for the skills fly to the spot, hover over it, head facing down toward “While it’s a myth that owls can rotate their heads from
and natural physical attributes that these extraordinary the sound, then just before impact thrust its legs forward a starting point facing forward, some species, like Great
creatures have evolved over the 100 million years since and punch through snow more than a foot and a half deep Grays and Barn Owls, can turn their heads almost three
they have existed on this planet is clear from first page to seize its prey.” quarters of the way around, 270 degrees – three times the
to last. The following brief passages serve as examples, But Ackerman has equal respect for the professional twisting flexibility humans possess … that an owl’s neck
some of the text has been omitted for lack of space here, scientists, students and volunteers who often dedicate can move swiftly and smoothly through those 270 degrees
and been replaced by ellipses (…): years of their lives under the most incredibly difficult of rotation is due to some clever adaptations, a loose S
“With a head designed for listening … the flat, gray physical and stressful conditions worldwide, studying shape that gives it flexibility, and a system of bones and
head disk of a Great Gray Owl is like one huge external every aspect of owls’ lives in order to build the base blood vessels that minimizes disruption of blood flow
ear, a feathered satellite dish for collecting sound … The of knowledge that will help protect the survival of owl through the neck to the eye and the brain when the head
facial disk in owls that hunt primarily by sound is outlined species at a time when many are at risk of extinction due rotates.”
with a ruff of stiff interlocking feathers that capture sound to climate change and other human influences. And I haven’t even touched upon an owl’s vision, with
waves and channel them toward the ears, like people One chapter, Who Gives a Hoot, includes the its ultraviolet spectrum.
cupping their hands around their ears. Feathers in the experiences of researcher Karla Bloem, who devoted There is so much more here to enjoy, and from which
back of the disk direct high-pitched sounds toward the an extensive amount of time studying variations in owl to learn. Plus 50 black-and-white photos and a section
ears, so the owl hears less noise from its surroundings language at just one site: of full-color photos that add greatly in helping you to
and can focus on prey cues. “After hundreds of hours of meticulous observation, identify different owl species.
“(The owl) can even change the shape of the disk by Bloem managed to characterize and describe fifteen

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