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Long-eared Owl Plumicorns

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Did you say plumicorn!?

If you are in any way related to a four- or five-year-old, you have most decidedly been educated on the difference between a unicorn and an alicorn (alicorns are flying unicorns in case you were wondering). My new favorite science word is plumicorn, from the Latin for feather and horn.

The large protruding tufts of feathers on this pair of Long-eared Owls are not ears, despite the owl being named for the protuberances. An owl’s ears are hidden at the sides of its head, next to the eyes, and are covered in feathers.

The tufts atop the head are called plumicorns and they are display feathers. Scientist aren’t exactly sure why plumicorns are there and what purpose they serve but they do have several hypothesis –

  1. The plumicorns may serve as camouflage by breaking up the owl’s outline and making it appear more like a broken branch.
  2. They may help other Long-eared Owls recognize other LOEs.
  3. The plumicorns may enhance the owls ability to mimic a mammal and appear more frightening to predators.

The Long-eared Owls seen here were exquisitely camouflaged. The plumicorns black inner feathers, freckled with white, did look to me like a second pair of eyes- a black eye with light reflecting. See in the photo below if you can see how the Owl appears to have two pairs of eyes, one set atop the other. When the plumicorns are pointed upward, it looks as though the bird’s eyes are open, even though its real eyes may be closed. This would allow the bird to sleep ‘with its eyes wide shut;’ resting to restore its energy for the nightly hunt.

I learned in reading about LEOs that they form pair bonds during the winter. Females LEOs are larger than the males. One was clearly larger than the other although that could be because the least camouflaged Owl of the pair was also super fluffed for warmth. It was gift to see these infrequent visitors to Massachusetts out briefly on a rainy afternoon.

Most of the clips in the video are of the larger sleepier LEOwl, perhaps the female. The second to last clip is of the smaller Owl. I quickly skeedadled as he was aware of my presence and I did not want to disturb him during what should be their peaceful time of day.

Long-eared owls are amongst the most slender of all owls

Well camouflaged! You can see in the above photo that the black inner feathers of the plumicorn looks like an open eye.

 

Long-eared Owls in the rain. Royalty free music from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center “Chansons de Bilitis” Debussy

SHORT-EARED OWLS IN OUR MIDST!

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Melded to the grass as he was, in monochromatic winter pasture shades of taupe, buff, and gray, it was nearly impossible to spot the impostor posing in the dry stalks and twigs. But there he was, a small mound resting along the thicket edge. You can barely see him in the photo below.

He sat up for a brief moment and even from a great distance his wide-eyed, and only seconds long, golden-eyed look was unmissable.

I’ve read the Short-eared Owl flight described as erratic, but I would call it anything but that. They swoop gracefully over fields in multi-directions, with great intention, listening for the sound of voles, moles, mice and other small mammals scurrying through the tall winter grass and phragmites. Flying low while hunting, their wingbeats are smooth and steady.

The Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)  is called as such because of the little tufts of display feathers atop its head, which aren’t really ears at all. The Long-eared Owl (Asio otus) is a cousin of the Short-eared and it has longer feather tufts. Owls have a highly developed hearing system and their ears are actually located at the sides of their heads, behind the eyes, and are covered by the feathers of the facial disc.

Unlike many species of owls, which prefer forest and woodland, the Short-eared Owls is a bird of open country. They require fields, grasslands, marshes, bogs, heaths, and dunes. Shorties are crepuscular, which means they mostly feed at dawn and dusk.

Short-eared Owls are found the world over on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. Sadly, in Massachusetts, breeding pairs have been driven to the brink of extirpation. There may still be one or two pairs that breed at Nantucket’s Tuckernuck Island but, because of loss of habitat, the Short-eared Owl was listed as endangered in Massachusetts in 1985.

Listen for the Short-eared Owls wing “clapping” in the video below, and some adorable chicks, too 🙂

From Cornell: “Hawaii’s only native owl, the Pueo (Asio flammeus sandwichensis), is a Short-eared Owl subspecies found on all the chain’s major islands. Pueos may have descended from Alaska forebears, taking hold in the islands after the first arriving Polynesians brought owl food in the form of the Pacific rat.”

Short-eared Owl Range Map