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Apr

This is a great gray owl, looking very intimidating in an adorable sort of way. Owls have developed a wing structure that allows them to be—for all practical purposes—completely silent in flight. Noise generated in flight is produced by the vortices formed as air flows over a wing, and is proportional to the size of the vortices. Owl wings have tiny projections along their leading edges, which generate a large number of small vortices, keeping noise to a minimum. Furthermore, the fringe at the wings’ trailing edges (which, by the way, have a smaller number of hooklets at the end of the feather barbs than most birds) help break up waves that are propagated as air flows over and down. The soft down covering much of the rest of the owl further helps to absorb any sound above 2000 hertz, making them almost completely silent.

This is a great gray owl, looking very intimidating in an adorable sort of way.

Owls have developed a wing structure that allows them to be—for all practical purposes—completely silent in flight. Noise generated in flight is produced by the vortices formed as air flows over a wing, and is proportional to the size of the vortices. Owl wings have tiny projections along their leading edges, which generate a large number of small vortices, keeping noise to a minimum. Furthermore, the fringe at the wings’ trailing edges (which, by the way, have a smaller number of hooklets at the end of the feather barbs than most birds) help break up waves that are propagated as air flows over and down. The soft down covering much of the rest of the owl further helps to absorb any sound above 2000 hertz, making them almost completely silent.

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