Thanks, Bill.

That is a fabulous video, even though it's presented as a big laugh.

The White-faced Scops-Owl apparently sees the Barn Owl as a potential threat, but not so large that it can't intimidate it into keeping its distance.

The Verreaux's Eagle-Owl, on the other hand, is a big predator that occurs in the same area that could be intimidated in no way by a scops-owl, so the little guy transforms into a dead stump. And the almost automatic assumption of that shape is really obvious when the eagle-owl moves around to the other side and the scops-owl keeps turning its appropriate side toward it. And look at the way the feathers seem to move around on the head; perhaps it can do that just by changing their orientation; I'm still not sure if the skin actually moves.

This is entertainment that is more educational than they think! One video of it calls the camouflage pose the Evil Dracula pose, completely missing the point.

Dennis

On Mar 10, 2012, at 9:51 PM, Bill Anderson wrote:

> When I responded that some owls are able to make themselves thin to deceive or frighten predators, I was thinking of this video that I had seen on YouTube.
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Rp-CaIKvQs&feature=related
>
> Bill Anderson; Edmonds, WA. USA
>

-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20120311/45b31198/attachment.htm