The other group of birds of prey here in the UK are the Owls. They are distinctive from the raptors in a number of areas.

We have five species of owl in Britain:

Tawny Owl	Barn Owl	Little Owl	Long-eared Owl	Short-eared Owl

A regular visitor to the British Isles, but not breeding here is the Snowy Owl, which visits Fetlar in the Shetland Isles. They last bred in the UK in 1974.

Three of our owls are nocturnal (active at night), while the other 2 are active during the day also. The Short-eared and Little Owls are most active during the day but the Barn Owl too will hunt during the day if he has a brood to feed.

The Eyes
The Owls have their eyes set in the front of the face. Their eyes are very large in comparison to their head, and instead of being round like ours, are pear-shaped. What we see is the small part of the eye. The biggest part at the back of the eye has a lot of room for special light-receiving rods in the retina. This allows the owl to see well in low light conditions.

Because of the shape of the eye, their eyes are fixed in the skull and cannot move up or down or side to side. This of course makes the owl at risk to attacks from behind, but a special neck mechanism allows the head to turn around very quickly.

Owls’ eye colour can give an indication as to its activity time. An owl with very dark eyes is normally active at night (nocturnal), an owl with yellow eyes is active during the day (diurnal), and an owl with orange eyes is active at dawn and dusk (crepuscular). There are some exceptions to this though.

The Ears
We didn’t mention ears with the raptors because it does not play a large part in their hunting but is essential to the Owls’ ability to hunt. In many species the hearing is far more important than eyesight!

The ears of the Owl are hidden on the side of his head, just behind the facial disk (more about that later). The owl has large openings in the skull that allow sound to travel to the hearing mechanism. They are not on the same level but one ear is placed higher on the head than the other. The size of the openings can be altered too, to help the owl pinpoint the exact location where a sound has come from.

Facial Disk
When we look at the face of an owl, we can see that around the face, the feathers are different to those on the rest of the body and head. A ring of stiffer feathers to separate it from the other feathers surrounds this area.

This facial disk channels sound to the ears and is able to detect change in the air pressure which indicates something is moving. In fact it is a bit like a satellite dish.

Wings and Feathers
The wings of the owl are long and broad, designed for sweeping strokes to aid gliding flight. They are not unusual in themselves, what makes them special is the structure of the feathers.

Owl feathers are not waterproof. They are very soft, and the flight feathers have a fringed edge to get rid of air noise as the feathers move through the air, which gives them silent flight. Because they are not as fast as the raptors, they rely on the element of surprise to catch their prey.

The Feet
The feet and talons of the owl differ greatly from the raptors. Instead of the scaly and tough appearance of the raptors, the owls’ legs and toes have a soft and fleshy covering, and the whole leg right down to the talons is covered in feathers. They also have a reversible outer toe, which they can use either at the back or the front.

Something else that sets the owl apart from the raptors is the way in which they feed. All raptors have a crop, which is a kind of halfway house between the mouth and the stomach. When raptors eat the food goes into the crop, and is slowly passed to the stomach over a period of hours.

Because owls do not have a crop, their food goes straight to the stomach. Owls are able to eat their prey whole. In fact, they will often choose prey species that can be eaten in this manner.

Once they have finished and digested their meal (they process it much more quickly than raptors), they pass back out of their mouths the unwanted and undigested part of the meal. Due to the speed of this processing, they do not digest fur, bone or feather.
Examination of these ‘pellets’ can show us exactly what the owls’ last meal was. We can even reconstruct the skeleton of the creature it ate.

Owl Summary
1. Soft feathers with fringed flight feathers
2. Not waterproof
3. Fly silently
4. Forward facing, immovable eyes
5. Exceptionally accurate hearing
6. Enhanced low light vision

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