Owl - үkü
Owl (white, eared, marsh, hawk).
Order of birds of prey, including more than 420 large and medium-sized species, mostly nocturnal birds. The order consists of two families: true owls and barn owls.
Brief description: large head, big round eyes at the front of the head, short, predatory beak.
Some owls hunt during the day, while others hunt both day and night. However, most owls are true nocturnal birds, and many of them can fly freely even on completely dark nights. Their plumage is soft, flight is silent, and coloration is camouflaging.
Their sharp long claws are strongly curved. The owl's beak, which curves from the base, has no notches on the edges and ends with a short hook, which owls use to produce a characteristic clicking sound that expresses strong excitement or irritation. The short cere is always covered with bristly feathers.
Owls have very large eyes that look straight ahead, according to the position of the eye sockets on the front of the facial parts of the skull, meaning that owls cannot move their eyes like humans. The eyes of owls remain fixed in place throughout their lives. The world appears black and white to owls. The pupil of an owl constricts and expands not only with changes in lighting but also with each inhalation and exhalation. Both the vision and hearing of owls are extremely acute.
The outer ear is relatively large and can be covered by a movable fold of skin that is feathered on the outside; radiating feathers around the ear openings form an outer ear shell. Owls can turn their heads 270°.
Most owls are dull-colored. Usually, against a main gray or rusty background, more or less densely scattered black spots, stripes, and mottles are present; but this coloration of owls always harmonizes with the surrounding background and effectively conceals them in twilight.
The usual diet of owls consists of small rodents. Smaller species of owls primarily feed on large insects, and some on fish. Owls rarely attack birds. Apparently, when hunting rodents in almost complete darkness, owls rely on sound, as they have very good hearing. Owls can live for months without water, quenching their thirst with the blood of their prey. However, they do not behave this way without necessity—water is needed not only for drinking but also for bathing.
Nests are usually old tree hollows, and eggs are typically laid without any bedding. Nests can also be crevices in rocks, holes in walls, underground burrows of various mammals, or abandoned nests of other birds.
Owls are monogamous and form permanent pairs. They usually breed once a year, but may breed more frequently when food is abundant. Owl eggs are relatively small, always white, and have a characteristic almost spherical shape. Typically, an owl lays between 3 to 10 eggs. The females incubate the eggs, but both parents participate in feeding the chicks. Incubation lasts about a month. Owls incubate from the first egg, so often chicks of different ages live in the nest. Parents try to feed the older chicks, which causes them to develop even faster than their younger siblings; during times of hunger, older chicks may even eat their younger siblings.
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