The Amazing Silent Flight Of Owls
The owl has always been a mysterious animal that arouses our interest a lot. However, something you may not know is that, unlike other birds, the silent flight of owls is barely noticeable in the environment. Do you want to know why? We’ll tell you everything below!
How is the flight of owls
If you like birds and have stopped to watch them at some point, you may have noticed that the flight of birds makes noises, like rustling.
This is because the wings move to generate enough power for flight. However, the flight of owls is very different.
This began to be investigated a few decades ago, when it was discovered that this bird is one of the most discreet around, if not the most discreet around.
So that you can see the difference between any other bird and the owl, we recommend this video that the BBC made to demonstrate the peculiarities of the silent flight of these birds.
In this video, you can see that if an owl flew a few inches from our head, we wouldn’t even notice.
Why the silent flight of owls
Many may believe that owls have a special flight technique or strategy. However, this is not true, the secret is in its plumage.
While the feathers of other birds create a sound from the rear edge, the study by Jaworski and Nigel Peake provides new information on this subject.
This study, conducted at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, showed that owl feathers have a porous surface that appears to absorb sound and reduce it. As Jaworski himself states in this study:
Of course, this could explain why a clearer sound is not produced, as is the case with other birds.
However, that doesn’t explain how the wind generated by the movement doesn’t move anything under or around the wing. Well, this is a second factor that was discovered in the study and it has to do with the frontal area of the wings.
They have very hard feathers that can “comb” the air, so to speak. This way, when they move, the sound is reduced to the maximum.
However, there is still more!
Added to all this, the wings of owls have a kind of protective layer. It has a waxy substance that covers all the feathers.
This wax does the job of absorbing noise, like when you have a rug on the floor.
The roughness of the surface seems to absorb and muffle noise to an almost imperceptible level. In this way, the flight of owls actually becomes extremely silent.
As you can see in the video, even experts are totally surprised that the flight doesn’t generate any sound.
Also, when the owl lands, it makes a sound that is imperceptible to the human ear, even more so if it goes far away. However, through computer analysis, these sounds could be perceived.
Undoubtedly, this bird, which went unnoticed for years, once again surprised us with a curiosity. Furthermore, this discovery can be used by science for some technological advance, such as reducing aircraft noise.
Finally, no matter how much we can create or discover, nature is always ahead of us. The incredible silent flight of owls is proof of this finding.
