Bird Dance

by Randy Hall

Title

Bird Dance

Artist

Randy Hall

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

If you've had the chance to watch an owl, you've probably seen them bob and weave with their heads, while continuing to stare straight ahead. This excerpt from The Audubon Society explains this behaviour.
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If you were to stand face to face with an owl, after a while it would start to move its head, bobbing rhythmically from side to side, then forward, then back. Or almost completely upside down. All while still looking at you, with its body still facing the front.
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Is the owl trying to communicate something? Is this, perhaps, some kind of dance?
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All these varied head movements help the owl judge the position and distance of things around it—essentially, to triangulate on objects, including potential prey, and to build a composite picture of its surroundings. This head-bobbing helps make up for an anatomical limitation: An owl’s eyes are fixed in position, so they simply can’t move the way our eyes do. To look up, down, or to the side, an owl has to move its head. They have very flexible necks and can do 270 degrees of a full head turn, looking over one shoulder, around the back, and almost over the opposite shoulder. And after a few of these head-bobs to triangulate on their prey, they rarely miss.

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July 24th, 2016

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