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Once upon a time there was an owl.
(Yes, I know that is how many stories begin and it has been done over and over.
But I thought it just felt right for this particular tale.)
His name was Marvin Baked Potato Dundelfoot.
(And yes, he questioned the common sense of his parents for giving him those peculiar middle names, especially when he was teased mercilessly as a wee little owl. He thought about legally changing his middle names to something normal like "William" or "Alistair" but he didn't want to insult his parents. After all, he is a nice owl.)
Well, Marvin had a dream. He wanted to teach a class at the local community center. What kind of class? One that teaches all kinds of fascinating things about owls, a class that is essentially all about how awesome they are.
(Ok, I need to break in right here and say something ... HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE??!!
Dude, there are so many interesting things
about owls! I would love to take Marvin's class!)
Marvin also had a cousin named Grumpy Gus, who has decided to interrupt this lovely tale because he has no manners whatsoever and because he is annoyed that I keep interrupting it too and he doesn't seem to realize that I get to because I am the writer of this very odd tale.
So to make Grumpy Gus a little less grumpy, we are going to jump way ahead and happily report that Marvin's dream came true! He was hired to teach all about owls by the local community center, which was smart enough to recognize that Marvin's class would be the most fun one they ever offered.
And that, my dear reader, is certainly a very happy ending to this goofy tale about an owl named Marvin Baked Potato Dundelfoot!
Guess what! We are lucky enough to get a sneak peak at just a small sample
of what Marvin has shared in his
very popular classes!
- Owls can turn their heads 270 degrees.
That is not quite a complete circle,
but it is mighty close.
- There is a reason they turn their heads
so far around ... they can only see
straight ahead. They cannot see to
the sides, so in order to see what is
going on around them they have to
rotate their heads.
- Owls do not have eyeballs like we do.
They are actually tube-shaped and do not move in their sockets. That explains why they can only see straight ahead.
- Some types of owls have ears that are kind of goofy! They're placed asymmetrically
on their head, which means one is higher than the other. Furthermore, they
are different sizes.
"This allows the owl to receive sounds at slightly different times, providing the birds with an exceptional ability to pinpoint the location of a sound; when a sound is equally loud in both ears, the owl knows it has zeroed in on the source and distance."
(source: Treehugger website)
- And those tufts you see on their heads
that look like ears ... that is all they are.
Tufts of feathers! They are not even close
to their ears!
- A group of owls is called a parliament and occasionally a congress or a stare.
Also throw in wisdom and hooting for other lesser-known names for owl groups.
The term parliament is thought to perhaps come from The Chronicles of Narnia novels written by C.S. Lewis.
- It appears cats are not the only ones
who hiss. Some owls species also hiss!
They do this as a warning or when they
feel threatened or annoyed. The hissing
also mimics sound of a rattlesnake,
which seems like a terrific way to
keep predators away!
- Thanks to specialized feathers on
their wings, owls can fly almost
completely silently.
- They can swallow their prey (their tasty dinners) whole. Guess what happens next!
The parts of the critter they just ate which cannot be digested (like bones and fur and feathers and teeth) gets compacted into
a pellet. Then they regurgitate (barf up, cough up, hork up) that pellet.
Um, not too appetizing if you ask me!
So it appears our wise Marvin Baked Potato Dundelfoot teaches some very fascinating facts about owls in his class.
Hopefully this has made you want to learn more about owls.
Always remember, there are more amazing and awesome things happening in nature than you can ever imagine!!!
Illustrations - permission obtained via store policies and direct communications:
owls by PaintPixelCo (Etsy)
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