Owl

The owl is a bird of prey that mostly hunts at night. Its large eyes are not round balls but long tubes, held fixed in bony rings, so an owl cannot move its eyes at all. To look around, it turns its entire head, up to about 270 degrees in either direction.^[1] An owl looking over its shoulder is therefore looking over its shoulder, its back and a good part of the other shoulder.

Hearing

Some owls, including the barn owl, have one ear set higher than the other. Sound reaches the two ears at very slightly different times, which lets the owl work out not just where a sound is to the left or right but also how high or low it is. A barn owl can catch a mouse in complete darkness by sound alone.^[2]

The barn owl's flat face works like a satellite dish, directing sound to the ears. It is not, as is sometimes claimed, a dot-to-dot puzzle.

Wisdom

Owls are traditionally thought of as wise. In tests, owls do about as well as other birds of prey and considerably worse than crows. The reputation comes mostly from the large eyes and the way owls look at people for a long time without saying anything, a technique also used successfully in job interviews.

See also

• Cat – another night hunter that stares
• Midnight – the middle of its working day
• Echo – something it would hear exactly
• Bat – the other night shift

References

1. Hoot, H. (1996). The Whole Head. Barn Press.
2. Lopside, L. (2002). “One Ear Higher: A Study”. Journal of Night Hearing 270: 1.
3. Sage, W. (1990). Looking Wise. Interview Books.