I just thought that I'd add my first thoughts on the reason for the
behaviour.
1. It may have been a neck-stretching exercise, related to the ability of
owls to rotate their necks so well
2. It may have been resting its legs.
It didn't appear that it was engaging in the behaviour involuntarily,
though initially I thought it was hanging there dead.
Niven
> Sent: Monday, July 30, 2012 6:33 PM
> To: <>
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Neck-hanging by owls
>
> 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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