Adorable owl, with heart-shaped face and queen-like poise, poses for photos!

Science

The heart-shaped face of the barn owl quite symbolically suggests its single-minded devotion to its mate. Although the barn owl is a bird of prey, they are quite graceful in appearance, with deep-seated eyes and elegant facial features.

The barn owl species normally mates for life. While there may or may not be some cosmic symbolism here between its devotion to its mate and its ‘heart-shaped’ visage, there is no denying the charm of this bird’s exquisite features.

Its heart-shaped face does provide some practical advantages. It acts as a disk that is very good at capturing even the slightest noise, particularly those at higher frequencies produced by its small-sized prey.

The heart-shaped disk directs sound up into the owl’s inner ears, which are just behind its eyes.

This species owl is one of the most widespread. It can be found in many places around the world, except in extreme climates such as polar regions, deserts, or high mountainous regions.

Barn owls are nocturnal birds of prey. They are extremely efficient night predators because of the incredible sense of hearing they possess and their ability to visually detect the slightest movement under very low-light conditions, according to The Barn Owl Trust. Even more astounding is its ability to fly through the air in absolute silence.

The barn owls’ heart-shaped face is a perfect symbol for its fidelity to its mate

Amateur photographer, Ck Patnaik, 40, captured a few images of this splendid specimen.

“I’ve never seen a barn owl yawning before–that’s my favourite one,” said Ck, who took the photos of this sweet barn owl near his hometown of Bhubaneswar, in Odisha, India.

“I’ve never seen a barn owl yawning before–that’s my favorite one,” said Ck, 40, an amateur photographer from India.

With the poise of a queen, this female barn owl almost seems to pose for the camera—such grace.

“When I looked back at the images, I thought I’d hit the bulls eye–it was wonderful, and my heart filled with great joy,” Ck said. “I knew I had something special.”