The great gray owl likely has a clever strategy for zeroing in on small rodents during the winter, a new study says.
, suggests the owls hover over the snow to locate muffled sounds, and that their broad faces help with this task., an ornithologist at the University of California, Riverside, who ran a series of experiments measuring sound in Manitoba, Canada, earlier this year.
The bigger an owl’s facial disc, the lower the frequency of sound it can intercept—and the great gray owl, found throughout the Northern Hemisphere, has the biggest facial disc of any owl, Clark says. By removing layers of snow atop the speaker, the team recorded how the depth of snow affected sound frequencies. For instance, data from the acoustic camera revealed that while much of the white noise could escape some eight inches of snow, only the lower-frequency sounds could pass through a 20-inch-deep layer—exactly the sounds that the owls may be detecting.Next, Clark and colleagues investigated a tricky effect that owls must contend with: the acoustic mirage.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Yes, there are great Thanksgiving desserts that aren’t pieAny of these desserts would make excellent finales to your Thanksgiving meal — whether you serve them cozied up next to the pies — or instead of them. (via nytimes)
Read more »
Analysis: China's great reopening may come too late for many businessesThe culinary tourism business of Brian Bergey and his wife Ruixi Hu has persevered in China through three years of harsh COVID-19 restrictions.
Read more »
Giving ‘Mother Nature a little bit of a boost’ on the Great Barrier ReefWarming seas have bleached Australia's vast coral ecosystem below in recent years. Underwater gardens, where coral fragments are grown, are among the efforts to preserve the country's famed Great Barrier Reef.
Read more »
Norman Reedus Unpacks the ‘Walking Dead’ Finale and His ‘F-cking Great’ Spin-OffThe longtime “Walking Dead” star takes us inside Daryl and Carol’s goodbye, and what to expect when we see him again.
Read more »
Weather Authority: Sunny, mild conditions make Tuesday great for Thanksgiving travelThe Delaware Valley is experiencing a tranquil weather pattern that will bring milder temperatures to the area for the week and Thanksgiving.
Read more »
Op-Ed: End the romance of Thanksgiving, as a great Pequot scholar argued two centuries agoThat three-day meal in the autumn of 1621 was less a predictor of future good will among all Americans than a historic aberration.
Read more »