āI'm not shy, I'm just quietly plotting world domination.ā š
This is what Owls seem to be saying when they fly. They are SOOOOOOOO silent!
Typically, when birds fly, we can hear their flap flap or swishing of wings. Some birds are so noisy when they fly that we can hear a flock flying half a mile away. Not owls. I swear that an owl passed 6 feet above me and landed on a nearby branch but I could not hear a single swish!
Therefore, taking advantage of the free theme contest announced by @nelinoeva for the #SMAP contest, I decided to share my pics of owls flying.
They are a varied and colorful lot as you can see from the collage I made below:
I was quite a bit curious to find out how owls flew so silently whereas other birds make so much wing noise as they fly.
The silence of owls flight is attributed to following two features (among others) which have evolved in owls as they developed as a nocturnal hunting species:
Owls have large wings compared to their body mass. This allows them to glide easily instead of flapping their wings as they swoop down on their prey
Owls have a comb like serrated structure in their feathers. As stated n this article and illustrated below.
Source credit: this article
Now that we have understood the reason behind the silent flight of owls, let us focus on enjoying the beauty of their flight through my clicks below.
A spotted owlet: Flying through the jungle with an intense gaze and focus
Spotted owlet flying : Displaying it's large wings...
Mottled wood owl flying in Rain
Spotted owlet looking surprised at night as it almost ran into me head on
Mottled wood owl silhouette in the evening light
Spotted owlet flying an obstacle course through palm fronds (my entry for #SMaP 141)
My entry for #SMaP 141
The above image is one of my favorite images of a spotted owlet flying. I just love the stern expression, looking very focused as it maneuvers through the gaps in the palm fronds. I had intentionally kept the shutter speed just a bit low to get the wings to blur a bit to get a sense of motion in the picture while the face of the owl remained sharp in focus...
Please feel free to comment and let me know your views. Also - please let me know if you liked the clicks.
A big thank you for support
Thanks to c/hive-106444 (Feathered friends community) for providing this wonderful opportunity to present my experience and photographs. Thanks to @barbara-orenya and @melinda010100 for all the support and encouragement to this community. Special thanks to @nelinoeva also for the wonderful contest and Author of the week initiatives.
Thanks to HIVE for this wonderful platform. Thanks also to @adalger and @dna.org for encouraging me by recognizing some of my posts as worthy of Densifying nature project.
Further, thanks to Amazing nature community for welcoming me and showing me their love on some of my posts.
Note: All images and collages in this blog are created by me, based on photos clicked by me personally and/or free vector images from Pixabay. Any other sources, if used, are indicated as image credits below the picture.
Quotes used, if not credited, are either from unknown authors or are proverbial old sayings.
