Neck-hanging by owls

[Niven <>]

Some time ago in the Darwin Botanical Gardens I observed a juvenile Rufous
Owl hanging by its neck in the fork of a tree. The bird had its toes tucked
under its chin, and its wings and body dangling down. It stayed like that
for quite a while until I moved on, but was in a more normal posture when I
returned perhaps 20 minutes later. I'm interested if this is a known
behaviour in owls (I've seen an image of something similar in a northern
hemisphere owl but can't remember now where it was), and if so, what its
purpose is. Any comments or pointers to mentions of it in the literature
would be appreciated.
Niven
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