How do owls achieve noiseless flight?
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If I remember correctly it’s something to do with the feather tips. The ends of the feathers act as a silencer and splits the air that passes over them. Also as others have said their wingspan to body mass ratio means they can fly at slower speeds thus reducing the airflow that moves over the wing.
Objects moving through the air at speed create more sound the faster they travel. You can test this with something as simple as a stick. Give it a twirl and you get nothing, thrash it through the air and you get a whooshing sound as it cuts through.
Owls utilise a larger wingspan to reduce their speed and I believe the tips of the feathers are evolved in such a fashion to dissipate the sound further.
Or I’m just full of shite. Either way them lighthouse headed mice munchers be silent and swift like carbon monoxide poisoning in an enclosed space.
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