Owl Behavior Unveiled: Why do owls bob their heads?

If you live in a place where owls are found in large numbers, sometimes you may see owls bob their heads. Now the question comes to your mind: why do owls bob their heads?

Since owls are nocturnal birds, many of us may have a lot of questions about them. When we learn about owls in detail, we come to know about new information such as owl pellets, owls’ heads can rotate 270 degrees, and owls swallow their prey without tearing it, despite being a predatory bird.

The more we learn about owls, the more we become curious. In this post, I will explain in detail why owls bob their heads up and down and what owls mean by this.

Why do owls bob their heads in circles?

Owls have a completely different shape of eye; they don’t have eyeballs like we do. Instead of eyeballs, owls have tubes in their eyes, also known as sclerotic rings. A jelly-like substance fills this tube.

Owls’ eyes are much larger than their bodies. While our eyeballs weigh about 0.0003% of our body weight, owls’ eye tubes weigh about 5% of their body weight.

The peculiarity of owl eye tubes is that they do not allow the eye to move within the socket like our eyeballs, instead keeping the eye fixed in place within the skull.

If owls want to see something while sitting, they can’t move their eyes like we do, so they have to either turn their heads or bob their heads in circles.

Owls’ eye tubes help them see perfectly in low light and pinpoint the exact location of their prey. However too much light becomes uncomfortable due to the structure of their eyes, which is why they are nocturnal.

What does it mean when owls bob their heads?

Owls bob their heads. It’s a daily routine that they do to perform various tasks in their daily lives properly. Below are some reasons why owls bob their heads:

To determine the location of prey

Owls can usually see clearly in low light, especially at dusk, dawn, and full moon nights, due to their unique eyes.

When they locate prey, they bob their heads to create a stereoscopic image of the prey.

Which helps them hunt more precisely. For this reason,  owls have become a notable efficient bird of prey in the environment.

To focus on something and Better Vision

Owls can’t move their eyes anywhere they want, which is why they move their heads in different positions when they focus on a particular object.

Owls can rotate their heads up to 270 degrees, which allows them to focus well on a particular object while sitting in one place.

Mostly, owls often bob their eyes to track the exact location of something they see.

Clean feathers and remove parasites

Owls feathers enable them to fly silently, allowing them to silently approach their prey. So they clean their flock from time to time. Owls bob their heads to clean their feathers with their beaks.

Like other animals, owls shelter a variety of parasites in their bodies. All of these parasites can make owls ill, which is why owls bob their heads to remove the parasites.

To communicate with each other

Owls are very conscious of protecting their habitat. They start hooting and bobbing their heads to alert them if an owl or predator has entered their area.

In the course of the breeding season, owls make various body movements to draw the attention of mates. 

Owls generally like living alone, but several species of owls prefer living in groups, such as short-eared owls, barn owls, burrowing owls, etc. They bob their heads to communicate with each other.

Hear the sound clearly

Owls often keep their senses alert to track the movements of their prey. They can fix the location of the prey by hearing the slightest movement of the prey through their sense of hearing.

They often bob their heads to locate their predator or prey. If they hear a sound coming from the left, they bob their head to the left, and if they hear it from the right, they bob their head to the right to trace the exact location of the sound.

To keep the neck flexible

We often bob our necks to keep our necks flexible, just as owls bob their heads from time to time to keep their necks flexible.

There are very few animals in the world that can rotate their heads up to 270 degrees. Owls are one of the animals that can do that.

Owls find it best to bob their heads while resting to prevent muscle fatigue and stay relaxed.

Why do baby owls bob their heads?

The head weight of baby owls is relatively heavier than their body weight. So they cannot keep their heads up for long; even they sleep with their heads lying down.

Babies move their heads frequently to make them flexible. Also, babies are inquisitive and sometimes bob their heads to learn about their surroundings.

Many times, a variety of flea-like insects are bitten by children, usually parents of the children shoo them away. When they are alone, they have to fend for themselves, so they have to bob their heads to repel insect spiders.

What other birds except owls bob their heads?

There are various reasons why birds bob their heads, such as to fix vision, trace prey, predators, and food, communicate with each other, and sometimes threaten other animals.

Below are the owls and other birds that bob their heads:

Pigeons

Pigeons (Columba livia domestica) are birds belonging to the Columbidae family. About 200 species of pigeons exist in the world. Pigeons have been tamed as pets by humans for about 10,000 years.

In the past, pigeons were used as messengers to exchange letters. Nowadays, pigeon-flying competitions are held in different countries. These birds bob their heads to specify distance and attract mates.

Doves

The dove (Columbidae) is another bird belonging to the Columbidae family. Their number is increasing day by day. Doves of Several species are seen around the world.

They usually live on small grains. One of the characteristics of these species of birds is that they prefer to live in the vicinity of the locality. They are also seen bobbing their heads, especially when they tweet.

Chickens

Most of our daily dietary protein needs are met from chicken and eggs. Chickens were first domesticated for cockfighting in the Indian subcontinent.

But gradually, they became a major component of the human diet and began to overtake it worldwide.

They have the first name on the list of most birds found in the world. There are about 1,600 species of chickens in the world today. They bob their heads to find food and to be alert to predators.

Cranes

The crane (Grus antigone) is a bird in the family Gruidae of the order Gruiformes. About 15 species of cranes are found all over the world, except in South America and Antarctica.

Although these species of birds look like bucks, they are completely different from bucks and eat almost anything, so they are also known as omnivores.

Some of these species lead migratory lives. They bob their heads to find food and to ward off predators.

Herons

Herons (Ardeidae) There are about 62 species that are usually found in tropical regions. Most of these species have long necks, and the throat type is s-shaped.

Herons find shelter near water bodies and hunt various small aquatic animals, including fish and frogs. They bob their heads to look for waterfowl, making them an efficient aquatic predator.

Magpies

Magpies (Pica pica) are intelligent black-and-white birds in the Corvidae family. They are very popular in the world because of their intelligence.

They can recognize themselves in mirrors, which is rarely exercised by other birds. Their melodious songs are charming to many bird lovers.

As they are known to be very intelligent birds, they bob their heads to learn about their surroundings.

Quails

Quails (Coturnix coturnix) are medium-sized birds with grey, white, and black plumage. There are more than 130 species of quail living in the world.

Many people love to eat their meat and eggs and do farming for their meat and eggs. They cannot fly very far in the wild. They feed on a variety of crops, plants, and small insects on the ground.

Quails are hunted as the favorite food by other predators, so they bob their heads to observe their surroundings closely to escape from predators.

Starlings

Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) are medium-sized birds with a very dark metallic color. They usually prefer nesting in holes and often capture abandoned nests of other birds. They usually fly in groups to avoid being attacked by predators.

The list of their favorite food includes various types of crops, fruits, and insects, due to which they often suffer from crop damage. Bobbing their heads to select the right food and being aware of their surroundings.

Crows

Crows (Corvus) are another intelligent bird with more than 40 species, usually black. They are seen in almost all parts of the world, and they clean the environment by eating the dirty garbage of the environment, which is why they are also named scavenger birds.

They are very bold birds and are called caw-caw. They like decorating their nests with brightly colored metal objects, so they bob their heads to search for food and metal objects.

Do owls see when they bob their heads?

I have mentioned above why owls bob their heads. One of the main reasons why owls bob their heads is to get a better view of something.

Since owls can’t move their eyes like humans, they have to move their heads at different angles to aim.

The senses of owls are very sharp, due to which they can perceive the movement of prey well from a distance.

As nocturnal predators, they bob their heads and focus their gaze on prey to accurately perceive prey in low light.

In short, owls bob their heads to have a better view, which enables them to be efficient hunters.

Why do owls move their heads in circles?

Owls have fixed eye sockets, so they cannot move their eyeballs.

Owls can rotate their heads up to 270 degrees with the help of their flexible necks to focus on an object or perceive things better.

This allows them to understand the exact location of prey or predators in their surroundings.

Owls are famous for their ability to see well in low light, and they occasionally move their heads in circles to accurately assess their surroundings.

FAQs

Q. Why do owls bob their heads up and down?

Ans: Since the eyes of owls are flexible, they bob their heads up and down to see something well.

Q. Can owls move their heads 360 degrees?

Ans: What many people think is that owls can rotate their heads 360 degrees, but actually, owls can rotate their heads more than 270 degrees.

Q. Why do owls eat the head of their prey?

Ans: They do so because owls do not tear their prey apart like other birds of prey, they swallow the prey instead, which is why owl pellets contain the skulls of the prey they prey on.

Q. How many degrees can an owl rotate its head?

Ans: Owls can easily rotate their heads up to 270 degrees.

Q. Why do owls have big heads?

Ans: The reason owls have big heads is to support their large eyes, making their beaks stronger.

Conclusion

The above answer to the question of why owls bob their heads has hopefully given you ample information.

Some of the activities of owls set them apart from other birds. There are many interesting facts about owls that many have never heard or known. I have covered all kinds of information related to owls on my website. 

You can read our other posts to get more information about owls or share interesting information about owls with your friends.