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More About Owls ...
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An owl is any of about 174 species of solitary nocturnal birds of prey in the order Strigiformes. Owls mostly hunt small mammals, insects, and other birds.
Owls have large forward-facing eyes and ears, a hawk-like beak, and a conspicuous circle of feathers around each eye called the facial disk. Although owls have binocular vision, their large eyes are fixed in their sockets, and they must turn their entire heads to change views.
Owls are far-sighted, and are unable to clearly see anything within a few inches of their eyes. However, their vision, particularly in low light, is excellent.
Many owls can also hunt by sound in total darkness. The facial disc helps to funnel the sound of rodents to their ears, which are placed asymmetrically to allow better directional location.
Despite their appearance, owls are more closely related to whippoorwills and other nightjars or Caprimulgiformes than to hawks and other diurnal predators (see Falconiformes). Some taxonomists place the nightjars in the same order as owls, as in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy.
Owls' powerful clawed feet and sharp beak let them tear their prey to pieces before eating. Their muffled wings and dull feathers allow them to fly almost silently and unseen. Scientists studying the diets of owls are helped by its habit of disgorging the indigestible parts of their diet, bones, scales, and fur in pellet form. These "owl pellets" are often sold by companies to schools to be dissected by students as a lesson in biology and ecology, because they are plentiful and easy to interpret.
Owl eggs are white and almost spherical, and range in number from a few to a dozen in some owls. Their nests are crudely built and may be in trees, underground burrows or barns and caves.
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Taxonmony
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Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Strigiformes
Family: Strigidae
Tytonidae
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Source: Wikipedia Read more about Owls
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AUDIO CLIPS
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Great Gray Owl Streaming RAM Hear Sound Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Sound recordings with scientific data. To view spectrograms, follow this link
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Great Horned Owl Streaming RAM Hear Sound Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Sound recordings with scientific data. To view spectrograms, follow this link
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Long-eared Owl Streaming RAM Hear Sound Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Sound recordings with scientific data. To view spectrograms, follow this link
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Northern Hawk Owl Streaming RAM Hear Sound Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Sound recordings with scientific data. To view spectrograms, follow this link
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Northern Saw-whet Owl Streaming RAM Hear Sound Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Sound recordings with scientific data. To view spectrograms, follow this link
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Short-eared Owl Streaming RAM Hear Sound Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Sound recordings with scientific data. To view spectrograms, follow this link
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Snowy Owl Streaming RAM Hear Sound Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Sound recordings with scientific data. To view spectrograms, follow this link
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Spotted Owl Streaming RAM Hear Sound Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Sound recordings with scientific data. To view spectrograms, follow this link
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Western Screech-Owl Streaming RAM Hear Sound Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Sound recordings with scientific data. To view spectrograms, follow this link
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Great Horned Owl MP3 Hear Sound National Geographic
Great Horned Owl sound clip
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Snowy Owl MP3 Hear Sound National Geographic
Snowy Owl sound clip
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Barn Owl 0.180MB MP3 Hear Sound Wild at Heart
Recording of barn owl chick in the egg!
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Barn Owl 0.240MB MP3 Hear Sound Wild at Heart
Three day old barn owl chick
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Barred Owl Streaming RAM Hear Sound Birdwatcher's digest
Barred Owl call
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Spotted Owl Streaming RAM Hear Sound Birdwatcher's digest
Spotted Owl call
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Great Horned Owl Streaming RAM Hear Sound Birdwatcher's digest
Great Horned Owl call
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Great Horned Owl 0.020MB WAV Hear Sound Natural History Education, Science, Technology
Great Horned Owl voice
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Barred Owl 0.030MB WAV Hear Sound Natural History Education, Science, Technology
Barred Owl voice
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Barred Owl 0.090MB WAV Hear Sound VivaNatura
Barred Owl call
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Eastern Screech Owl 0.080MB MP3 Hear Sound Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas
Eastern Screech Owl call; from John Feith's Bird Song Ear Training Guide CD
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Great Horned Owl 0.260MB MP3 Hear Sound Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas
Great Horned Owl call; from John Feith's Bird Song Ear Training Guide CD
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Barred Owl 0.150MB MP3 Hear Sound Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas
Barred Owl call; from John Feith's Bird Song Ear Training Guide CD
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Northern Saw-whet Owl 0.080MB MP3 Hear Sound Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas
Northern Saw-whet Owl call; from John Feith's Bird Song Ear Training Guide CD
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Great Horned Owl 0.020MB WAV Hear Sound Harry Foundalis Home Page
Great Horned Owl
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