Winking Owl - a photo on Flickriver

Winking Owl

            The Rufous Owl - Australia's second largest and rarest owl relies heavily on its incredible sight to navigate through the forest at night without hitting a single branch. 

Owls don't have eyeballs — they're more like eye tubes. They're elongated and held in place by a bony structure in the skull called sclerotic rings. Because of this, owls can't move or roll their eyes within their sockets. Owl's ability to turn their head 135 degrees in each direction , totaling 270 degrees of neck movement, assists them with the immobility of their eyes.

Owls have binocular vision similar to humans, meaning they can see an object with both eyes at the same time. This gives owls a great ability to judge height, weight, and distance.

They also have extraordinary night vision and farsightedness, but there's a drawback. Because they are far-sighted, owls can't see objects up close. To make up for this, they have filo-plumes — small hair-like feathers on their beaks and feet — to feel out their food when hunting.

Owls have three eyelids. One is for blinking, one is for sleeping, and one is for keeping their eye "tubes" clean.

Taken on: August 8, 2007

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