>Reasonable only if owls' retinas are structured similarly to humans
>which is your assumed presumption here. It is quite possible that a
>certain difference in the ratio of rods to cones could lead to greater
>contrast acuity in the dark rather than in the daylight. Remember the
>old pan-boreal aboriginal legends about Boreal Owls being "blind" during
>the daytime. Perhaps someone with biological info on the optical
>characteristics of owl vision could inform us further.

If it were true that owl night vision were developed to this extent
I wonder if the adaptations allowing them to hunt so well by ear
at night would've arisen?

- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>