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