Both entrants today have had very solid campaigns so far. The Great Horned beat the Sooty and then had a major win against the beloved Burrowing Owl. Saw Whet got past the Barred Owl and the well liked Buffy Fish Owl. No one could deny either if these owls has a place in the final four.
Great Horned is a legend. Large and powerful with a bellowing hoot. The mightiest hunting owl of the Americas. They have a 5ft / 1.5m wingspan, and only the Snowy outweighs it. Ask someone to describe an owl to you, and they will likely describe to you the mighty Great Horned.
Saw Whet is short and sweet. It’s one of the smallest owls, with a chirping call that is quite unique. Though small, its diet is more similar to an owl like the Great Horned than the diet of other small owls. The charming face belies wonderful hunting talent. It migrates to follow its opportunities for success, and that’s what it’s looking to do today.
Who will be your third banner owl and semi-finalist? Upvote them now!
Saw-whet is so adorable, but going by sound I have to give the Great Horned its due. Heard one the other night, and considering I live on a busy Los Angeles street near the 405, and have double glazing, that’s impressive. Attaboy, Horny!
I tried to look up an easy explanation but couldn’t find one, but low frequency sound travels further with less dispersion and also travels through other objects while losing much less energy.
This is why you can hear the owl from a good distance over all the background noise and through your surroundings. It lets it get its message out through the forest (or urban jungle) it calls home!
Someone else is going to have to ELI5 the physics though!
Not a physicist myself, but yes! It’s how elephants keep track of the family over vast distances, with low notes humans weren’t aware of until Katy Payne felt the infrasound vibrations from zoo elephants and published her study in the 1980s
What a small world the bioacoustics world seems to be!
I went to look her up, and saw the elephants came after studying whale sounds with her husband.
That reminded me of the guy that proved owls (barn owls specifically) can hunt in total darkness using their asymmetrical hearing. After I made this post going over the original study, someone recommended I share it with the bioacoustics community. Someone there told me that guy and his wife also did the ground breaking work with whales.
The Barn Owl / whale guy is Katy Payne’s husband, Roger Payne! What a huge amount of discovery for a couple. They’re like a non-irradiated version of the Curies mixed with Dr Doolittle!