# Questions About Owls **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 18, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-owls/412290 "2007-07-18T18:32:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-owls/412290/41 "2007-07-25T14:06:45Z")
[QUOTE=NajaNivea] Squirrels in particular are extremely tough to kill and squirrel hawking is considered a bit of a daredevil sport, [/QUOTE] :dubious: But surely some of the squirrel roadkill I’ve seen was flattened by a Falcon? ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2007, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-owls/412290/42 "2007-07-25T14:58:22Z")
[QUOTE=EddyTeddyFreddy] :dubious: But surely some of the squirrel roadkill I’ve seen was flattened by a Falcon? [/QUOTE] But probably not recently! ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-owls/412290/43 "2007-07-26T03:35:15Z")
May I add another question? Someone alleging to be an expert on owls and other birds of prey told me that owls never sleep. I don’t see how that can possibly be true. He claimed to have owned a number of these birds and that, while they may relax for a while, even close their eyes momentarily, that they never actually sleep. Anybody here know for sure? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-owls/412290/44 "2007-07-26T04:32:32Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] Owl say! [/QUOTE] [O RLY?](http://www.orlyowl.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-owls/412290/45 "2007-07-26T05:57:22Z")
[QUOTE=MLS] May I add another question? Someone alleging to be an expert on owls and other birds of prey told me that owls never sleep. I don’t see how that can possibly be true. He claimed to have owned a number of these birds and that, while they may relax for a while, even close their eyes momentarily, that they never actually sleep. Anybody here know for sure? [/QUOTE] Yes, they sleep. See, for example, [here](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=4339456&dopt=Abstract), or [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verreaux's_Eagle-owl). ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-owls/412290/46 "2007-07-26T14:58:32Z")
I have nothing to add except owls are cool. I’ve worked with a few over the years. They may not be very bright but they always look like they are thinking intensely and can’t be bothered with anything else so maybe that’s where the “wise old owl” thing comes from? They always seem pretty laid back but if they want to warn you away they make themselves look big and clack their beaks at you. Other birds will puff themselves up to make themselves look bigger but owls are the only ones I can recall doing the beak clacking thing. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-owls/412290/47 "2007-07-26T19:15:54Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] if they want to warn you away they make themselves look big [/QUOTE] [Some](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornimegalonyx) didn’t even need to make themselves _look_ big… ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2007, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-owls/412290/48 "2007-07-26T21:45:37Z")
[QUOTE=Darwin’s Finch] [Some](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornimegalonyx) didn’t even need to make themselves _look_ big… [/QUOTE] Ooh, a giant burrowing owl, how cute! ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-owls/412290/49 "2007-07-27T03:04:22Z")
[QUOTE=NDP] [O RLY?](http://www.orlyowl.com/) [/QUOTE] [YA RLY!](http://bestuff.com/images/images_of_stuff/210x600/ya-rly-18009.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-owls/412290/50 "2007-07-27T10:14:06Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] To scare away the wooden pigeons. Wooden you? [/QUOTE] Pigeons cooden’t be that stupid…even the wooden ones, cood they? ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2007, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-owls/412290/51 "2007-07-27T23:35:54Z")
[QUOTE=MLS] May I add another question? Someone alleging to be an expert on owls and other birds of prey told me that owls never sleep. I don’t see how that can possibly be true. He claimed to have owned a number of these birds and that, while they may relax for a while, even close their eyes momentarily, that they never actually sleep. Anybody here know for sure? [/QUOTE] I actually thought this was a trick question of some kind, so I asked my owl PI to be sure. He looked at me kinda funny before assuring me that owls do, in fact, sleep. I have no idea what makes your friend think they don’t, and it makes me wonder that he would believe this if he had any sort of long-term contact with them. This bit especially “may… even close their eyes momentarily”: I see them sleeping 'most all day, every day with eyes closed, heads tucked in, one foot pulled up for warmth. Maybe your friend was thinking of the [unihemispheric slow-wave sleep](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990702a.html) patterns of which ducks are capable? Or maybe it’s just that they woke up when they heard him coming and he just never saw them sleeping. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-owls/412290/52 "2007-08-23T15:22:57Z")
Of course owls sleep, just as all birds (hell, all vertebrates) do. I think the association of owls with wisdom probably dates back at least to Greek myth, in which an owl was the associate/familiar/pet of Athena, who was IIRC the goddess of wisdom. I had the pleasure of seeing a presentation by an owl wrangler and naturalist a few years ago. He made the same point as upthread, that owls are not as tubby as they appear with their feathers. To a layperson, an owl skeleton looks much like that of any other bird. He also said that owls are not terribly “intelligent” when compared to other birds such as ravens and crows, but are very well-adapted to predation and are often (as with GHOs) at the top of their local foodchains. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-owls/412290/53 "2007-08-23T15:42:44Z")
This is all anyone needs to know about [owls](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRdq6nysGbE). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-owls/412290/54 "2007-08-23T17:47:49Z")
[QUOTE=Shamozzle] This is all anyone needs to know about [owls](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRdq6nysGbE). [/QUOTE] Bless you. That gave me my biggest laugh of the week. “Do you have any cookies?” ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-owls/412290/55 "2007-08-24T18:26:29Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] Bless you. That gave me my biggest laugh of the week. “Do you have any cookies?” [/QUOTE] I do what I can. It’s the little things. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-owls/412290.md?page=2)