As owls are nocturnal hunters, they rely on their sense of hearing to hunt at night. Energetic owls such as the barn owl and snowy owls have large eye lenses and powerful hearing. In general, owls have excellent hearing. The ear flaps for an owl’s ear are extremely sensitive and can detect sounds from as low as 20 hertz (cycles per second) to as high as 28 kilohertz. Because of this, owls can hear from anywhere from 40Hz up to approximately 25kHz. Their keen hearing also helps them locate prey by sensing small changes in air pressure caused by the movement of animals or insects through the area.
Inexpensive or expensive earmuffs, noise-cancelling headphones or ordinary muffs won’t help you if your home is plagued with a noisy neighbor. If you find yourself frequently battling with intrusive noises in your home, then you should get to know your ears more thoroughly and learn how you can reduce the noise pollution that is bothering you so much.
How Far Can Owls Hear?
Just because an owl has a large ear and superior hearing doesn’t mean that they can hear in all directions. Owls can only hear sounds from directly in front of them, about 10 degrees off to the side, above, below or behind them. This is even true for barn owls because their ears are small and directed upwards. To understand how far away your prey is, identify the direction it is coming from. Then use this information along with the owl’s sense of smell to determine whether or not it will be able to catch its prey.
On average, you can expect that a barn owl would be able to hear up to 10 meters away, but snowy owls have exceptionally keen hearing and can detect scents up to 30 meters away while listening intently.
What Noises Attract Owls?
Owls are attracted to sounds that are high-pitched, fast, and/or loud. Sounds such as the sound of a whirring fan or air conditioner, a lawnmower, an airplane flying by, or even a barking dog can attract these predators since they often hunt at night.
These noises are especially threatening because they usually come from outside the owl’s hiding place and may mean that prey is nearby. So, owls will search for these noises and investigate to see if there is anything worth hunting. For example, an owl would likely investigate the noise coming from your neighbor’s dog if it were barking in the middle of the night.
Do Owls See or Hear Better?
Owls have excellent eyesight and hearing. They are equipped with exceptional light sensitivity that helps them to see their prey at night. This is an advantage for when the owl hunts, but in some cases like with the barn owl, it can be a disadvantage because of the limited field of vision that owls have.
On the other hand, owls do not appear to have any color vision; this makes it difficult for them to discern colors and contrast. This means that they cannot distinguish between different types of fruits or flowers during food gathering.
Owls also lack depth perception which is important for navigating around obstacles and hunting prey in low-light conditions. However, owls have better visual acuity than they do depth perception.
What Color Do Owls See?
Owl eyes are very sensitive to color. Owls use their eyesight to detect the body heat of animals and to determine whether they will be able to catch their prey. This is why owls have a variety of colors in their eyes, which range from yellow to brown, green, blue and amber.
