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rmatchell
10-03-2015, 09:06 AM
150315

lightman
10-03-2015, 09:16 AM
Thats funny! Its not really where I expected this thread to do.

fryboy
10-03-2015, 10:09 AM
looks like he's thinking ..." so you ate tom for thanksgiving dinner last year huh ..."

williamwaco
10-03-2015, 10:13 AM
Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you.

rmatchell
10-03-2015, 10:18 AM
looks like he's thinking ..." so you ate tom for thanksgiving dinner last year huh ..."

More like hey dad.....got any food?

I forgot to add that his 5 brothers and sisters were in the back of the truck

Hickok
10-03-2015, 10:21 AM
I climbed up into my tree stand in the dark one morning, and as it got daylight, I looked over to see a small screech owl sitting about 4 feet away on a limb staring at me. Never heard him fly in or didn't know if he had been setting there when I sat down, but he sure was giving me the "evil eye"!:-D

rmatchell
10-03-2015, 10:43 AM
150322


Here is the rest of the family. Something got our hen when she was on more eggs.

dtknowles
10-03-2015, 11:48 AM
I climbed up into my tree stand in the dark one morning, and as it got daylight, I looked over to see a small screech owl sitting about 4 feet away on a limb staring at me. Never heard him fly in or didn't know if he had been setting there when I sat down, but he sure was giving me the "evil eye"!:-D

I don't totally understand but Owl flight can be silent. Something to do with the feathers.

Tim

Ballistics in Scotland
10-03-2015, 12:18 PM
Probably he is thinking "Am I going to hit the windscreen when he stops?"

I was once out looking for a deer in the last minutes of light, embedded in a hedge, and a brown owl came and flew round me no less than five times, ten feet off, and screamed. Obviously he thought I was a treestump out of which a small bird or rodent might be frightened into bolting. I didn't do anything that might make my nose or hands move, I can tell you. Hospital casualty departments don't get a lot of fun in life.

JSnover
10-03-2015, 12:29 PM
I don't totally understand but Owl flight can be silent. Something to do with the feathers.

Tim
That's correct. An ornithologist once told me owls (and possibly other birds of prey) have feathers that allow them to fly silently so as not to alert their prey. If those feathers are damaged or lost it can affect their ability to hunt.

JSnover
10-03-2015, 12:30 PM
rmatchell, be thankful it wasn't a buzzard. They don't normally get that close until they think you're dead.

rmatchell
10-03-2015, 12:54 PM
No buzzards here...only lots of chicken and turkeys. Cant even park in front of the barn without being harassed.

jsizemore
10-03-2015, 12:55 PM
rmatchell, be thankful it wasn't a buzzard. They don't normally get that close until they think you're dead.

That's what I was thinkn'. More better it's the turkey than the buzzard.

BrassMagnet
10-03-2015, 01:00 PM
Patience, hell!

Hogtamer
10-03-2015, 03:01 PM
Hickok, if that little fellow had sceamed at you in the dark from that close there are several possiblilities, none of them good. Your heart could have failed; you dived out into space; your bowels loosed. Some folks may not know that screech owls, small though they be, can sound something like a woman screaming at the top of her voice mixed with a big cat wail.

Hickok
10-03-2015, 04:18 PM
Hickok, if that little fellow had sceamed at you in the dark from that close there are several possiblilities, none of them good. Your heart could have failed; you dived out into space; your bowels loosed. Some folks may not know that screech owls, small though they be, can sound something like a woman screaming at the top of her voice mixed with a big cat wail.Hogtamer you are so right. I have heard them cut loose when I was in the woods and I immediately froze in place, until I realized that it was it was a screech owl.

Those bobcats can scream and make you come to a halt too!:groner:

Artful
10-04-2015, 05:18 PM
That's correct. An ornithologist once told me owls (and possibly other birds of prey) have feathers that allow them to fly silently so as not to alert their prey. If those feathers are damaged or lost it can affect their ability to hunt.
http://animals.howstuffworks.com/birds/owl-fly-silently1.htm
http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/owls-silent-flight.jpg

While it adds to the owl's mystique, silent flight serves a very practical purpose. It helps this nocturnal creature sneak up on its prey. But how do owls fly silently in the first place?
While it adds to the owl's (http://animals.howstuffworks.com/birds/owl-info.htm) mystique, silent flight serves a very practical purpose. It helps this nocturnal creature sneak up on its prey. But how do owls fly silently in the first place?
The design of owls' wings allows them to fly in almost absolute silence. Different parts of their wings and the characteristics of their feathers contribute to their silent flight.

Owls have broad wings with large surface areas that help them to float through the air without flapping too much. Less flapping makes less noise.
The main reason owls can fly silently is the uniquely designed leading edges of their primary feathers. When most birds fly, turbulence -- created when air gushes over the surface of their wings -- causes noise. Owls' wings, however, are unique because they reduce noise caused by turbulence.

An owl's primary feathers are serrated like a comb. This design breaks down turbulence into smaller currents calledmicro-turbulences.

Then the edge of the feather muffles the sound of air flowing over the wing and shifts the angle at which air flows. These soft feathers allow air to pass through which eliminates sound. Some people suspect that, as the owls flies, these feathers may also shift sound energy created by the owl's wing to a higher frequency that prey can't hear.

http://www.asknature.org/images/uploads/strategy/938e8c4d8e2bf786fa5c9922d181273e/6c3f5432792d197931c69ce0fff57669.jpg
The serrated wing feathers of the owl enable near-silent flight because they distribute air rushing over the wing into small vortices, thereby reducing turbulence.


SUMMARY (http://www.asknature.org/strategy/938e8c4d8e2bf786fa5c9922d181273e#section)Owls are known as silent predators of the night, capable of flying just inches from their prey without being detected. The quietness of their flight is owed to their specialized feathers. When air rushes over an ordinary wing, it typically creates a “gushing” noise as large areas of air turbulence build up. But the owl has a few ways to alter this turbulence and reduce its noise.

First, the leading edge of the owl’s wing has feathers covered in small structures (hooks and bows) that break up the flowing air into smaller, micro-turbulences. These smaller areas of turbulence then roll along the owl’s wing toward the trailing edge, which is comprised of a flexible fringe. This fringe breaks up the air further as it flows off the trailing edge, resulting in a large reduction in aerodynamic noise. Then, any remaining noise that would be detectable by the owl’s prey is absorbed by velvety down feathers on the owl’s wings and legs. These soft feathers absorb high frequency sounds that most prey, as well as humans, are sensitive to.

All together, these features enable owls to remain undetected when they fly. However, it’s believed that the wing’s serrated leading edge is most effective at reducing noise when the wing is at a steep angle—which would happen when the owl is close to its prey and coming in for a strike.

See and hear the difference between a flying owl and other birds in this video (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02kqgpf).
http://www.asknature.org/strategy/938e8c4d8e2bf786fa5c9922d181273e

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2513106/Secret-owls-silent-flight-revealed-Scientists-uncover-birds-soft-feather-technology-used-make-quieter-aircraft.html


The secrets of owls' near silent wings has been revealed by scientists who could now use the technology to develop quieter aircraft.
A new study has shown how the bird of prey's naturally evolved plumage gives the hunting advantage of 'acoustic stealth', allowing it to sneak up on targets.


Research found that many owl species have developed feathers which can effectively eliminate the aerodynamic noise from their wings as they cut through the air.

It is work that may one day help bring 'silent owl technology' to the design of aircraft, wind turbines and submarines.
Doctor Justin Jaworski, assistant professor in Lehigh University's Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, who worked on the research said: 'Owls possess no fewer than three distinct physical attributes that are thought to contribute to their silent flight capability.

'A comb of stiff feathers along the leading edge of the wing; a flexible fringe a the trailing edge of the wing; and a soft, downy material distributed on the top of the wing.'
For conventional wings, the sound from the 'hard' trailing edge creates much of the noise of flight.

However, earlier work carried out by Dr Jaworski revealed that the porous nature of the owl wing's trailing edge made it softer, resulting in aerodynamic noise reductions.

The velvety down on top of an owl's wing creates a compliant but rough surface which scientists likened to a soft carpet.

This down material is the least studied of the owl's noise reducing attributes, but Dr Jaworski believes it may eliminate sound at the source through the pattern in which the feathers grow on the wing.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/11/25/article-0-006721B100000258-944_306x423.jpg
The natural technology found in the owls' wings could now be used to improved noise reduction in aircraft

He added: 'Our current work predicts the sound resulting from air passing over the downy material, which is idealised as a collection of individual flexible fibres, and how the aerodynamic noise level varies with fibre composition.'
A photographic study owl feathers has revealed a surprising 'forest-like' geometry of the down material.
This could be incorporated into the researchers' future work to more faithfully replicate the owl's wing.

Preliminary experiments have shown that a simple mesh covering, which replicates the top layer of the 'forest' structure, is effective in eliminating some sound generated by rough surfaces.
Dr Jaworski said: 'If the noise-reduction mechanism of the owl down can be established, there may be far-reaching implications to the design of novel sound-absorbing liners, the use of flexible roughness to affect trailing-edge noise and vibrations for aircraft and wind turbines, and the mitigation of underwater noise from naval vessels.'



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WigEGNnuTE

Menner
10-04-2015, 10:21 PM
When I worked at a prison we had guard towers and on the 12-8 Shift we had an Owl that would come out and set on the fence almost every night. Don't know for a fact but from the size of him I believe it was a Great Horned Owl he was at least 3ft tall setting on the fence then he would drop in the field catch his prey prob a mouse and you would not see him again until the next night.
Tony

MaryB
10-04-2015, 10:47 PM
Farm place I was renting had a great horned owl living in the abandoned barn. He got to know me and would fly in close and scare the heck out of me at night! Nothing like closing your car door, turning around and having an owl sitting on a fence post 4 feet away looking you in the eye! The call they made was haunting at night too!

rmatchell
10-05-2015, 11:06 AM
When my wife first moved in with me she was very scared of the owl calls. Always cracked me up.

Markbo
10-05-2015, 11:52 AM
Mine is afraid of toads. Like run into the house whimpering afraid. Toads!

Oh... and she thinks that the big bull squirrel in the neighborhood is out to get her. :)