Silent Hunter by danob
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
Getting close to these wonderful birds is always a pleasure and also to be able to capture them in very natural looking habitat, even if the woods are a real challenge in the darker light.
One amazing aspect is the total silent flight of the owl, even when they fly right over the top of your head, you can barely feel anything and hear nothing!.
An Owl has very few down feathers, but has downy barbules on the parts of the contour feathers closest to the skin.
Many of the Owl's feathers are specially designed - around the face there are the stiff facial disc feathers or ruff, crown feathers, ear-flap feathers and also bristles around the bill.
The feet and bill have Filoplumes that work somewhat like feelers, to help the Owl react to things they touch, such as prey.
The most unique adaptation of Owl feathers is the comb-like or fimbriate (fringe-like) leading edge of the primary wing feathers referred to as "flutings" or "fimbriae". With a normal bird in flight, air rushes over the surface of the wing, creating turbulence, which makes a gushing noise. With an Owl's wing, the comb-like feather edge breaks down the turbulence into little groups called micro-turbulences. This effectively muffles the sound of the air rushing over the wing surface and allows the Owl to fly silently. There is also an alternate theory that the flutings actually shift the sound energy created by the wingbeats to a higher frequency spectrum, where most creatures (including prey and humans) cannot hear.
Thanks for taking time to look and for any comments you care to make
Comments (73)
G r a n d i o s !!!!!
Gorgeous photo.
Excellent capture.. Love that wing span Fantastic Hugs Susan~
Superb! Incredible photography and super postwork to go with it!
Exceptional capture !
Beautiful capture!!
excellent image
Oh Danny - what an amazing capture! Bravo!! It is such a gorgeous owl! Bravo friend!!! :)
A stunning image, perfect moment captured.
Stunning in flight capture, looks absolutely perfect. Outstanding shot!!
amazing feel of silent flight, Dan. another real wonder!
A masterpiece, excellent work!!
Very impressive capture of the moment with perfekt focus! :)
excellent shot and thanks for the information, its instructive! RS
Wow, this is gorgeous. Fantastic action shot. Excellent shot and fine presentation.
nice mood, great composition
An excellent photo of the grand bird.
Thank you for the great information. An excellent photo of this owl in flight!
Fantastic shot of this beautiful owl!
Spectacular ! An outstanding shot. And thanks for the informations !
Superb flying owl!!! Impressive capture and presentation!!!
So nice and special. LLove it O)
Well Caught!
Look at that staight line across both wings! And the fine sculpting of the face! The postwork is awesome too. Delightful capture and the information is also a delight.
Very impressive capture , majestic Ana
Absolutely awesome. Thank you for all the information too! Cheers, Clive
This is another beautiful bird photo, and I always love your little lessons, too.
Wonderful!
Incredible in-flight photograph! Really beautiful.
Magnifique réalisation, très bel oiseau