Post #14014

Fish owl: Giant owl from the taiga. Mice are not enough for her - she switched to large prey! Imagine: an owl the size of an eagle that doesn't catch mice. Owl with bare feet. An owl that flaps its wings NOISY - unlike all the other owls on the planet. And do you know why? Because her prey underwater can’t hear anything anyway. Evolution has removed the noiselessness of flight - the fisherman simply does not need it! Meet the fish owl (Ketupa blakistoni) - the largest owl on the planet and one of the rarest bird predators in Russia. The wingspan is up to 190 centimeters - almost two meters! The weight of females reaches 4.5 kilograms. For comparison: an ordinary owl weighs 500-600 grams. The head has furry feather “ears” that stick out to the sides like disheveled antennae. The eyes are bright yellow, piercing. But the main feature is the PAWS. This is what makes the fish owl unique among all the owls in the world: it has bare toes! And on the plantar surface there are small sharp spines - natural hooks for holding slippery fish! Imagine trying to grab a wet, squirming trout with your bare hands. Impossible? And to the fish owl - please! The spines dig into the scales, and the fish is firmly fixed. Evolution removed feathers from fingers for a reason. Firstly, wet feathers freeze in winter - the bird can freeze and die. Secondly, the bare, rough fingers with spines act as a natural grip for slippery prey. Perfect adaptation! The feathered predator has two main methods of hunting: Method one: dive strike. The bird sits on an overhanging branch and patiently looks out for prey. He saw a fish - he swooped down with lightning speed, snatched it out of the water with his claws and soared back. At the same time, the eagle owl NEVER submerges completely in the water - only its paws! Method two: wandering fisherman. The eagle owl enters the water up to its belly and, spreading its wings half-open for balance, slowly wanders along the riffles, groping with its paws for fish and crayfish at the bottom. The spectacle is surreal: a huge owl, the size of a turkey, wanders through the shallow water like a heron and paws under the stones. After such swims in winter, feathers may freeze. And then the eagle owl cannot take off. Therefore, this method is typical for warm days. The fish owl walks on the ground a lot. On the banks of the rivers where he hunts, it is easy to find trampled paths - as if a small dinosaur was walking there. Ornithologists joke: if you find the trails of an eagle owl, you have found its hunting territory. The fish owl is an extremely faithful bird. He chooses a couple once and for all. If one of the partners dies, the other does not look for a new pair for years. There are cases where widowed eagle owls lived alone for 1-3 years. And they also sing a duet! The male makes two low sounds - “oo-hoo, woo-hoo”, and the female responds with a third, even lower sound - “huuu”. The result is a mesmerizing bariton