Eastern screech owls are strictly nocturnal, which makes the sight of them during the day all that more special.

The great horned owl is the most common owl of the Americas, easily recognizable because of the feather tufts on its head. These “plumicorns” resemble horns or, to some, catlike ears.

(Photo by Linda Shaw) In addition to distinctive, species-specific plumage differences, of these species, only the screech owl has “ear tufts.” These are two little peaks of feathers on top of ...

Dogs also have lots of small muscles in their ears, so they can point them very precisely to work out what direction a sound is coming from and how far away it is. Ah, the barn owl, another great ...

Owls have superpowers. They hunt like wolves of the sky. Their ears are Ferraris of sound sensitivity. Their brain does sophisticated math to pinpoint prey. They’re near-silent flyers.