Indian Scops Owl
Indian Scops Owl
"That tree just winked at me!"
There didn't seem to be many interesting facts about this owl out there, all the articles just described what it looked like. Boo.
So in lieu of some facts, I found a short video of it hopping around and bobbing its head and such. Its head looks kinda flat on top, which I found cute.
Probably explains a lot of “tree-men” type things. That guy is a master of disguise!
What do they mean by “feather tufts”, though? Is that some banding or flashes of color on wings or something that serve as an indicator? (Like deer tails?)
Think how long human kind hasn't had corrective lenses, only had moonlight to see at night, and a very limited understanding of the natural world, and you can imagine many tall tales and mythical monsters could be traced back to owls!
Tufts are the horns, though the proper name is plumicorns, which is an awesome word and should be more popular.
Generalized owl face diagram
Indian Scops - Tufts switched off
Indian Scops - Tufts switched on
Debate goes on about the exact range of purposes of them, but showing alertness can be one, like the deer tail you mentioned.
This makes way more sense. For some reason… I was thinking they were focusing on the wing tips when they mentioned them.