An
owl siting on the branch of tree
I
saw owls in my backyard sometimes, but I never know that they fly so
smoothly without sound.
To
have an idea, you may compare an owl and other birds while they are
flying in this video: Experiment! How Does An Owl Fly So Silently?
It
is clear that other birds produce sound while their wings flap. The
noise is due to air turbulence created by flapping wings.
In
case of owl, no sound is produced is relating to at least to three
following factors:
-
the structure of two wings resemble to the comb
-
wings have great quality of velvet feathers to form soft layers
-
owl’s feathers form the ragged fringe on the wing trailing edge.
The
combination of these 3 factors is believed to reduce turbulence noise
while owl flying.
Another
reason that owl has broad wings, thus make its gliding more, but
flapping less. Gliding more means no noise, silent.
Flying
silently make owls to be efficient predator in the night, their prey
can not able to detect dangerous warning.