I’D imagine Tolkien’s inspiration for the Eye of Sauron to be based on the eyes of a raptor. The focused fiery gaze which will lead to the snuffing of a life in a matter of seconds.
Raptors rely largely on their extraordinary optical abilities to survive. Yes, they have ferocious talons, razor-like beaks, and in the case of owls, stealth flight mode. But all these talents would amount to nothing if they were not able to focus on their prey with pinpoint laser accuracy.
This Brown Boobook or Brown Hawk-Owl, one of the 20 owl species that we have in Malaysia, flew into the canopy rather stealthily. I wouldn’t even know he had arrived if it wasn’t for the multitude of squeaks and squawks of nearby squirrels and small birds alerting one another of the arrival of an apex predator.
And once he perched, he began to survey his kingdom with a piercing gaze. Which of his subjects would become his next meal?
He came to perch really close to me and from this proximity, you can actually see the complexity of his irises. Unlike most birds and mammals that have eyes that are spherically shaped, owls’ eyes are shaped like tubes.
This allows light to be concentrated in a small space on the back of the eye giving them a good gauge of distance but restricts the field of vision to about 110 degrees, in comparison to humans that have a 180 degree field of vision.
To compensate for this, owls can turn their heads 270 degrees and nearly upside down without having to move the rest of their body. It helps that they possess 14 cervical vertebrae making this contortion possible, whereas humans and almost all other mammals have only 7 neck vertebrae.
The miracle of evolution demonstrated in a feathery bundle of attitude.
Like the all-seeing eye of Sauron, this Boobook appears to see all as well. – The Vibes, November 21, 2021
Peter Ong is a wildlife photographer and board member of Roots & Shoots Malaysia and is one of the mentors of the Roots & Shoots Malaysia Award (Rasma) program, where he interacts with and encourages youths to get involved with Malaysian NGOs to be a part of the solution to the issues faced by wildlife, society and our environment.
