Feathered Friends Charm Page

Owls

As a group of birds, owls have been around for up to 80 million yrs. There are around 200 different owl species in the world. A group of owls is called a parliament. Owls are mostly nocturnal, hunting at night. They have excellent sense of hearing and are farsighted, which means that they cannot clearly see the objects which are in front of their eyes. Seeing well in the dark is the major function of an owl's eyes. Owls have three eyelids: one is for blinking, one is for sleeping, and one is for keeping those eyes clean. Owls have four toes, three of which face forward and one backward. They have powerful talons (claws) which help them catch and kill prey. The Owl is a very successful hunter because it can fly silently. Special kind of soft feathers which can be brown, rust, grey, white and black muffle the sound of the moving wings. Owls eat rodents, small mammals, fish, birds and insects. The barn owl is very beneficial for the farmers because it eliminates rodents in the barns.

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