canberrabirds

RE: [canberrabirds] Symb–OWL–ism | National Library of Australia

To: 'Philip Veerman' <>, "'David McDonald (personal)'" <>, 'CanberraBirds' <>
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Symb–OWL–ism | National Library of Australia
From: Mark Clayton <>
Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2016 00:18:52 +0000

Penny has made one mistake in her list of prey items – a Feather-tailed Glider would disappear in one beakful!! The species that Penny should have written was Sugar Glider.

 

Mark

 

From: Philip Veerman [
Sent: Friday, 2 December 2016 10:54 AM
To: 'David McDonald (personal)'; 'CanberraBirds'
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Symb–OWL–ism | National Library of Australia

 

Yes Penny clearly likes to write drawing together information from all over the place. But I wonder at this quote from there: “These owls have asymmetrical skulls, with one ear opening higher and larger than the other; sound arrives at (minutely) different times at each ear. The Barn Owl’s feathery facial disc captures, amplifies and funnels sounds to the ear openings. If the owl hears prey and turns its head so that the sound arrives at the same time in both ears, its prey is immediately in front of it.”. Is that really true? The connection between the 1st & 3rd sentence is surely that the asymmetrical ears means that it is the slight offset and the bird’s ability to move its head and judge so well, or judge that time difference, rather than being immediately in front, that gives the greater perception. The issue being that if the sound is immediately in front, then it is not equal on both ears and that tiny difference is how it can locate it.

 

Philip

 

From: David McDonald (personal)
Sent: Friday, 2 December, 2016 9:47 AM
To: CanberraBirds
Subject: [canberrabirds] Symb–OWL–ism | National Library of Australia

 

Penny Olsen has written a delightful piece on owls, beautifully illustrated, with a focus on Powl, in the first edition of the National Library's new digital magazine, Unbound:
http://www.nla.gov.au/unbound/symb-owl-ism-0
David

-- 
David McDonald
1004 Norton Road
Wamboin NSW 2620
Australia
T: (02) 6238 3706
M: 0416 231 890
F: (02) 9475 4274
E: 
<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the Canberra Ornithologists Group mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the list contact David McDonald, list manager, phone (02) 6231 8904 or email . If you can not contact David McDonald e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU