Date:         Tue, 10 Nov 1998 20:47:05 -0500
Reply-To:     "James F. Flynn, Jr." <jflynn@AMERICA.NET>
Sender:       Georgia Birders Online <GABO-L@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>
From:         "James F. Flynn, Jr." <jflynn@AMERICA.NET>
Subject:      Re: barn owls again
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Stephen P. Stewart wrote:
>
> This is fascinating.  How does a barn owl use body heat to locate
> prey???  I know how snakes do it and mosquitoes, but how does a
> bird?????
>
> sps
 
This perplexes me also, as there is no reference to "heat-seeking" Barn
Owls in the Birds of North America species account that I can find.  Is
this a recent discovery?  The BofNA accounts normally scour known,
accepted references.  The Barn Owl account is dated 1992.
 
BofNA states the following about Barn Owl prey detection:
 
"Ability to locate prey by sound is most accurate of any animal tested
(Knudsen, 1981) allowing capture of prey hidden by vegetation or snow."
 
Take care.
--
Jim Flynn
Cumming, GA
jflynn@america.net
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