How do owls fly so silently?

With help from LOREENA NIEUWENHOUT - and the NATURE NUT!

Owls are known as very silent fliers in the bird world. It’s much harder to hear a quiet owl compared to the noisy flapping of a Canada goose or mallard duck. When a bird flies, lots of air moves over their wings, and just like when you hear the wind blow through the trees, you can hear the wind making noise over a bird’s feathers. Owls have special feathers on the front of their wings with comb-like edges that help break up the wind flowing over them. As the rough wind flows through the combed edges, it gets smoothed out and doesn’t make as much noise. What little noise is left from the moving air gets absorbed by the rest of the soft feathers on their wings, resulting in a near silent flight! To learn more about Owls, check out episode 53 of Acorn the Nature Nut, “Owl See You in My Dreams” (bit.ly/acorn-nature-nut-owls).