Wise Old Owl
The more he saw the less he spoke
The less he spoke the more he heard
Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?
While there is some debate about the origin and history of the wise old owl, most people will recognize this popular nursery rhyme. They say that this poem has been used as a tool to teach young children to be quiet. This idea is probably derived from one of the owl's most common behaviors of quietly and patiently waiting for its prey.
The fierce and powerful great horned owl is an incredibly skilled hunter which capitalizes on this trait as it patiently roosts and listens for certain sounds from its prey. Once the owl locates the sound, it silently swoops down and snatches its victim with its powerful talons. This is commonly referred to as the "perch and pounce" hunting method.
The great horned owl typically targets mammals for its prey (such as raccoons, rabbits, opossums, squirrels, skunks, cats, mice, rats and foxes). Its eyes are larger than humans' eyes and are designed with a binocular style of vision which enables them to zero in on prey with pinpoint accuracy. In fact, its eyes are so large that they are fixed in place and cannot move. What is most amazing is that this precision hunting takes place at night!
The great horned owl has a wingspan of 4Ð5 feet and is the second largest owl in North America. (The gray owl is the largest.) It gets its name from the feathered tuffs on its head that appear to be horns. Like most birds of prey, the females are bigger than the males. Great horned owls typically have a lifespan of 25Ð30 years.
God designed the great horned owl with very special vertebrae called axis vertebrae which allow it to turn its head 270 degrees in one direction. Another very special design feature of the owl is its special silent flight feather (Say that ten times really fast!). Of all the 10,000 different species of birds in the world, the owl is the only bird that is designed with flukes on the inside and outside of every feather that actually stifle the noise from the friction of feathers moving. Any other bird flapping its wings would sound like many pieces of paper shuffling together.
Some of you have met Tootsie, Creatures of Creation's very own great horned owl. For those who have not, we managed to include her passport photo for this article.
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