Intro: Owls Documentaries
The owl is a nocturnal bird of prey known for its distinctively large eyes, round head, and tufted ears. It is highly associated with wisdom in many cultures. In the Jewish Bible, Isaiah mentions that "the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show his strength in action". The owl has been used as a symbol of intelligence for centuries. The first documented evidence for the symbol's use dates back to Ancient Greece. The owl can be found on some Native American Indian flags.
Owls are known for their peculiar eyes with binocular vision and the ability to fly silently, making them dangerous night predators.
Their diet mainly consists of small prey such as insects, mammals, fishes, and other birds.
In this collection, we'll explore eight documentaries about owls, shining some lights on the nocturnal life of these funny and fascinating birds.
1. Documentaries about Owls: Owl's Nature (2018)
Owls are incredible animals, and this documentary will provide viewers with a deeper understanding of owls in relation to their habits. Viewers will also learn how they can do good things for these wonderful creatures by knowing what is going on in the world that they live all around us. Owl's Nature's Birds is a great way to add some knowledge about nature into your day-to-day routine or even if you're just looking for something new to watch!
We can also discover the exciting relationship between owls and other nocturnal animals, like wolves and their typical prey, like fishes, rabbits, rats, bees, and more.
2. The Owl: Master Of The Hunt - Owls Documentary
This documentary about owls dives deeper into the remarkable hunting skills of this silent nocturnal predator.
Equipped with binocular vision, the owl has incredible eyesight able to detect prey in the darkness.
The owl has an inborn ability to detect and hunt. The eyes of this predatory bird are equipped with a set of specialized cells called photosensitive retinal ganglion cells that allow the owl to see almost as well, if not better than humans during moonlit nights. When these specialised neurons fire off their signals, it's lights out for its prey: the little brown bat is completely blinded by these light sensitive cells which help regulate when they should be activated so that at night time no unnecessary activity will cause them harm.
Also, their feathers evolved and adapted to optimize stealth flight mode, making it a perfect night killer machine.
The moment you realize its wings are above you and his beak within your flesh, it's already too late.
3. The Eagle Owl, the Lord of the Night - Owl Documentary
The Eagle Owl is one of the most powerful birds that hunts at night. Its great scope and versatility allows it to hunt on innumerable species, move silently throughout diverse ecosystems, and remain under the radar until just when it strikes its prey. These animals include little owls, foxes, wild boars - they all adapt their senses in order to move through the darkness without getting eaten themselves!
The eagle owl is a supremely intelligent bird. It will choose its mate for life, and will strategically build nests in cliffs to control the prey it hunts and deter predators that could attempt to take over their territory. With special infrared hidden cameras, we have been able to follow the evolution of an eagle owl's nest from beginning until present day. We watched with high-speed cameras as they discovered how stealthy flight works-the ultimate hunting technique!
4. Snowy Owl - Discovery Channel National Geographic Owls documentary
The snowy owl, also known as a polar owl or arctic owl, is a large white owl adapted to cold habitats such as the tundra.
The ghostlike snowy owl is unmistakable with its white plumage that echoes its Arctic origins. These large owls breed on the Arctic tundra, laying 3 to 11 eggs per clutch and are monogamous during lean times-defending their nests against all opponents even if it means excluding wolves from getting access to the food that is there for them. Young birds, in particular males, get whiter as they become older and some elderly males can turn entirely white; females retain more spots and never turn totally white.
Its main preys are usually small mammals, but due to the hardship of the tundra, he adapts to whatever is available.
The Snowy Owl is also a nomadic bird, and it tends to migrate and mate with different partners.
5. Snowy Owl Documentary 2015
This piece is another documentary about the Snowy Owl, of which we already discussed in the previous documentary description.
In this documentary about owls from 2015, you can appreciate a different style, point of view, and insights about this beautiful and lethal predator of the tundra.
6. Owl Documentary - Wildlife Animal National Geographic Documentary
This well-comprehensive owls documentary gives a good overview of the owl's world.
From the different species, different habitats, unique features, typical behaviors, and lifestyles.
7. Owl Documentary - Fascinating Facts About Owls
This remarkable documentary about owls is filled with exciting facts and curiosity, from hunting techniques to habits and reasons behind certain evolutionary traits.
The vast majority of owls are true owls. True owl species can be distinguished by their large heads with round faces, short tails and muted feathers with mottled patterns. The exception to this is the barn owl which has a heart-shaped face and long legs equipped with powerful talons. These characteristics are not as familiar in North America or Eurasia but they're still known to residents there at least due to the common barn owl's worldwide distribution.
Some animal adaptations have been so successful that other animals have adapted themselves to the same niche. This is what's known as hyper-accommodation. The dark coloration of owls makes them nearly invisible in their prey, which consists of insects small mammals and other birds, but it doesn't come without a price: their wings are structured so they beat in complete silence with the exception of very few wing beats during takeoff and landing. These adaptations combined with huge eyes make owls some of our planet's most efficient night hunters who includes wolves and coyotes not excluded.
One of the most remarkable things about owls is how they move their entire heads when looking at something, rather than simply moving their eyes in their sockets like other vertebrate animals. The reason for this is that they need large forward-facing eyes to gather light during nocturnal hunts and evolution couldn't spare the musculature to allow these eyes to rotate. They have an astonishingly flexible neck which allows them to turn it only a quarter of a circle or 90 degrees - compared with 270 degrees for humans!
Enough spoilers. Enjoy the documentary if you wish to discover more!
8. The Private Life of the Barn Owl - Documentary about Barn Owl
Owls are usually divided into two major lineages: the great majority of species is called "true owl," while we found the Barn Owl on the other lineage.
The barn owl is a kind of owl found in North America, Europe and Asia. It's become one of the most common birds of prey across the globe. Barn owls have been known to live up to 20 years in captivity, but they typically live for around 12 years in the wild. They've adapted well to urban environments because their hunting skills make them particularly suited to catching rodents in barns and grain stores. These intelligent birds will also hunt other prey like small mammals and fish if they're hungry enough.
Barn owls are easily recognized by their heart-shaped face, large ear tufts, reddish eyes, dark feathers, and white markings on their wings. Most males have brown/grey plumage while some females can be reddish or white as well with brown forehead, chest and back feathers.
In this short documentary, we're going to have a close look at the other big family of owls, the Barn owl.
Owls Documentaries: Conclusions
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