From Ahjet Lin

The Burrowing Owl reaches speeds of up to 145 mph / 235 kmh and plows headfirst like this into the hillside to carve out its burrow. After that, it really needs a place to rest its head!

Gotcha! They just use old holes from badgers and such! 🤣

They are quite aerodynamic though, aren’t they?

I like the landing gear coming out here in these other photos.

    • anon6789OP
      1•3 hours ago

      Most owls seem to clock in at a top speed of 30-40 mph / 48-64 kmh, which is decent to pretty good for a bird.

      Trying to find speed data on birds, and especially owls is not as easy as I was expecting. Most birds have a regular cruising speed and then a “I’m out of here!” speed. Owls tend to do more gliding to conserve energy and to stay quiet and go slowly to look for food.

      I couldn’t find any data to back it up, but Great Horned Owl and Northern Hawk Owl seem to get the most credit for the fastest owls. I also so a few people list Snowies and Barn Owls as particularly fast owls. Most bird speeds I saw given sounded like estimations or just something repeated without citation, so I wouldn’t take this as a concrete truth.

    • OtterEnglish
      8•10 hours ago

      The foot looks like landing gear being pulled back inside after takeoff

      • anon6789OP
        5•9 hours ago

        That was my thoughts also.

        First I was wondering why there were 3 photos that looked the same until I saw those little footsies poking out. 😍