Owl Eye Colours

By Anupum Pant

Owl eyes aren’t spheres, or even near spheres like that of us humans. Their eyes are slightly longer, or you could say tube-shaped. This shape doesn’t allow a good movement of eyes like our shifty eyes. So they see around turning their heads. And since they can turn their heads about 270 degrees, looking around isn’t a problem.

The colour of owl eyes is a vague indicator of at what time of the day they prefer hunting. It’s not a totally accurate indicator, but they do give an idea.

The Eurasian eagle owl and the great horned owl are two of the many owls which have orange coloured eyes. The colour orange means that they are active around dawn and dusk.

The ones with dark brown or black eyes like to hunt at night. It is believed to be an evolutionary trait which helps them to blend well in the dark.

The great gray owl, for instance, has yellow eyes. And that colour is a fairly accurate indicator that the owl prefers hunting during the day.

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