This summer many families will take extended float trips, camping overnight. And a lucky few may see or hear owls. These majestic creatures are an essential and beautiful part of Missouri’s forests and wildlife areas and it’s important that they are not killed, captured or disturbed. If it weren’t for owls, animals like mice, rats and rabbits would overrun the planet. Like humans, owls look for meals that are easy, catching small animals that are slower, weaker or diseased, creating a stronger and healthier prey population in the process. But owl populations are small because it takes a lot of prey to support just one owl. In fact, the risk of owl extinction hangs in the balance due to threats to their environment.
But there are ways you can help. It’s illegal to keep owls as pets. If you know someone who possesses an owl, dead or alive, contact the Conservation Department or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service immediately. Around your home or farm you can retain large, hollow trees or old buildings. These are ideal nesting areas for owls. You can also place nesting boxes for screech owls and barn owls. With owls around you don’t need pesticides or rat poisons as much so use these products conservatively. Owls can control the rodent population to a certain extent if you encourage them to live around you. If you see a baby owl out of the nest, leave the owl alone. Baby owls are better at defending themselves from danger than you might think and their parents will be back soon to feed them even if you don’t see them around at the moment. Owls that have been reared in domestic environments almost never return to their proper place in the wild.
Like hawks, eagles and falcons, owls are also “raptors” because they have talons or sharp claws on their feet for catching prey and a hooked beak to tear it apart. But unlike other raptors, owls are nocturnal, making it easier for them to hunt mice and other small animals that are also active at night. Owls have huge eyes, nearly as large as man’s, that provide them with excellent night vision. Like humans, owls’ eyes look forward allowing them to see an object from two different angles, producing three-dimensional perception. This 3-D vision makes it easier for owls to detect perches and branches while flying at night in addition to detecting the distance of prey. However, an owl’s eyes cannot move in their sockets so they must swivel their heads to focus on an object.
In addition to 3-D vision, owls also have 3-D hearing. While ear openings for owls face forward, the right ear opening is higher than the left ear opening. Because each ear receives a sound from different angles and the owl’s facial disk focuses the sound waves into the ears, the owl has what is considered 3-D sound. In fact, research has shown that Barn Owls can detect prey in total darkness because of their incredible hearing.
And it’s not only their hearing that helps owls to catch their prey, so does their silent flight. To reduce the sound of flowing air, tiny serrations along the owl’s leading edge of flight feathers empower owls in their surprise attacks. Owls locate their prey from a perch or in flight. Flying in quickly they swoop in feet first before carrying their victims in their beaks or feet back to the perch or nest where they are quickly devoured. Owls swallow smaller prey like mice whole. But larger prey, like rabbits, owls must tear apart with its beak and talons. A few hours after its meal, owls cough up indigestible fur, feathers and bones in firm, cylindrical one and two-inch pellets. Researchers have studied such pellets and determined that one owl had eaten 1,987 field mice, 656 house mice, 210 rats, 92 blackbirds and four frogs.
If you’re not a fan of rodents, you can see that owls are nice to have around. Maintaining the environment for owls helps them and in the long run us.
