Superbowl

I know! I always think about that too!

I was really annoyed the other day in the update article about Flaco the Eagle Owl, a lady called police because he was on her balcony and she was worried he was hurt, and they just shined lights in his face until he flew off. So rude! 😔

They probably don't enjoy it an more than we do, but they do sound to be equipped to handle it better than we're able to. Their eyes have some really cool powers!

From the Owl Research Institute:

Towards the back of the eye, they have a high number of specialized photoreceptors known as rods, which help the owl see well in low-light conditions but do not help with seeing colors. Since these rod cells make Great Horned Owls so susceptible to light changes, they are able to dilate and constrict their pupil quite quickly with the help of certain tiny muscles. Our eyes do this too; if you’ve ever turned on the lights too quickly in a dark room, you’ve felt the shock on your eyes! This is because your pupils were struggling to adjust quickly to the dramatic light change. A Great Horned Owl can actually constrict its pupils in 176 milliseconds or less after a flash of light. Dilation is not quite as fast, taking one full second for the owl’s eyes to adjust.

Owl eyes come in a wide range of colors. There are a bunch with dark brown or black eyes, but many times they are just really dilated. If you haven't seen the comment below, they can dilate them separately from each other and have a lot of manual control over them, and they work really really fast compared to our own eyes.

Barn Owl

Flammulated Owl

Tawny Owl

Brown Wood Owl

Checking out what eye color is one of my favorite parts of learning about a new owl!