Incredible Footage Shows How Owl Uses Sound to Hunt under Snow
16 Video Views·Oct 6, 2026
In a Manitoba forest, a great grey owl sits atop a spindly branch. Then, wings outstretched, it descends from its perch, gliding over the blanket of snow. Specially adapted feathers allow it to do so in dead silence. After all, it wouldn't be good to drown out the noise of your own food.
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Video Summary
AI GeneratedThe Great Grey Owl is a specialized predator that uses silent flight and extraordinary hearing to hunt field voles hidden beneath deep snow. By utilizing a unique facial structure to amplify sound and adjusting its position to overcome acoustic distortions caused by snow, the owl successfully locates and captures its prey to survive extreme cold.
The Great Grey Owl is a master of stealth.
Specially adapted feathers allow him to approach in dead silence.
His prey is hidden under a thick blanket of snow.
To combat the extreme cold, the Great Grey Owl must catch seven field voles a day.
To succeed, he must rely on his most effective weapon, his hearing.
Voles need to feed continuously or they'll freeze to death.
To find new supplies of food, they constantly dig tunnels, unaware of the danger above.
The owl's large facial ruff, formed of dense feathers, helps amplify sound and funnel it
towards his ears. Through half a meter of snow, the sound of scampering feet is inaudible to us.
But not to him. With the help of a special acoustic camera,
equipped with 60 highly sensitive microphones, we can see what the owl is hearing.
This time, he's missed. Despite his acute hearing, hunting in snow is a challenge.
It not only muffles sound, it bends it as well.
While it appears that the vole is here, it's actually over here.
The only way to overcome this acoustic illusion is for the owl to get directly above the vole,
where sound is no longer distorted by the snow. As he flies, he tracks the sound as it changes.
The closer he gets, the less it's bent by the snow. Until finally, he pinpoints his target.