Silent Hunter by danob
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Description
Getting close to these wonderful birds is always a pleasure and also to be able to capture them in very natural looking habitat, even if the woods are a real challenge in the darker light.
One amazing aspect is the total silent flight of the owl, even when they fly right over the top of your head, you can barely feel anything and hear nothing!.
An Owl has very few down feathers, but has downy barbules on the parts of the contour feathers closest to the skin.
Many of the Owl's feathers are specially designed - around the face there are the stiff facial disc feathers or ruff, crown feathers, ear-flap feathers and also bristles around the bill.
The feet and bill have Filoplumes that work somewhat like feelers, to help the Owl react to things they touch, such as prey.
The most unique adaptation of Owl feathers is the comb-like or fimbriate (fringe-like) leading edge of the primary wing feathers referred to as "flutings" or "fimbriae". With a normal bird in flight, air rushes over the surface of the wing, creating turbulence, which makes a gushing noise. With an Owl's wing, the comb-like feather edge breaks down the turbulence into little groups called micro-turbulences. This effectively muffles the sound of the air rushing over the wing surface and allows the Owl to fly silently. There is also an alternate theory that the flutings actually shift the sound energy created by the wingbeats to a higher frequency spectrum, where most creatures (including prey and humans) cannot hear.
Thanks for taking time to look and for any comments you care to make
Comments (73)
flora-crassella
G r a n d i o s !!!!!
novelist
Gorgeous photo.
Blush
Excellent capture.. Love that wing span Fantastic Hugs Susan~
fredster66
Superb! Incredible photography and super postwork to go with it!
GiMi53
Exceptional capture !
brycek
Beautiful capture!!
timtripp
excellent image
Meisiekind
Oh Danny - what an amazing capture! Bravo!! It is such a gorgeous owl! Bravo friend!!! :)
kaward
A stunning image, perfect moment captured.
Hendesse
Stunning in flight capture, looks absolutely perfect. Outstanding shot!!
nikolais
amazing feel of silent flight, Dan. another real wonder!
BorisB
A masterpiece, excellent work!!
Marcel-P
Very impressive capture of the moment with perfekt focus! :)
rocserum
excellent shot and thanks for the information, its instructive! RS
FriedaFelicia
Wow, this is gorgeous. Fantastic action shot. Excellent shot and fine presentation.
jeroni
nice mood, great composition
kansas
An excellent photo of the grand bird.
mbz2662
Thank you for the great information. An excellent photo of this owl in flight!
MedTran39
Fantastic shot of this beautiful owl!
virginiese
Spectacular ! An outstanding shot. And thanks for the informations !
carlx
Superb flying owl!!! Impressive capture and presentation!!!
G_Mansco
So nice and special. LLove it O)
PD154
Well Caught!
MrsLubner
Look at that staight line across both wings! And the fine sculpting of the face! The postwork is awesome too. Delightful capture and the information is also a delight.
amlondono
Very impressive capture , majestic Ana
cfulton
Absolutely awesome. Thank you for all the information too! Cheers, Clive
Cosine
This is another beautiful bird photo, and I always love your little lessons, too.
durleybeachbum
Wonderful!
Romia
Incredible in-flight photograph! Really beautiful.
Bebe160
Magnifique réalisation, très bel oiseau