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This is something of interest to me because I've had the great opportunity to watch owls in the wild and I've wondered about their wing structure before. Some owls operate during the daytime - a lot of them do - and I recently watched one stalking one of our bluejays who's a regular here. I observed the jay in a swooping type flight and then saw something that I recognized as an owl swooping after it - it looked like a bundle of gray rags on a coathanger. (I don't know the outcome of the contest; I think the jay survived, but you know, owls gotta eat too. They seem bored with the corn and sunflower seeds I leave out for the other birds.)

I recognized this as an owl because I actually saw one almost take my pet parrot, Charlie Cockatoo, one day while I was sitting out on the porch. (This was some years ago; I never sit out on the porch anymore because crack addicted freaks who started moving in after I moved here.)

It was so fast I almost didn't know what I was seeing, but Charlie SCREAMED (louder than usual) and I immediately stood up - although I didn't see anything - and something that looked like a bundle of gray rags DID A FLIP IN MIDAIR and sailed back into the pines that are heavy in the yard here. I was like, "Oh, that's an owl." Charlie was out of his cage at the time, walking up and down on the porch rail like he used to do before we stopped going outside - he saw the owl and knew he was in big trouble, even though the bird was a bit smaller than he.

We used to hear them hooting all the time but now that is rare, because - yes, you guessed it - crack addicted criminals who moved into the neighborhood, making life miserable for everyone who just wants to live, work, and paint a crazy picture every once in awhile.

1 posted on 01/18/2022 8:35:41 AM PST by Scarlett156
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To: Scarlett156

Pretty good design for a series of random mutations!


2 posted on 01/18/2022 8:45:02 AM PST by FatherofFive (We support Trump. Not the GOP)
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To: Scarlett156

“Trailing edge asymmetric serrations”

Interesting concept.

Birds have very soft flexible wing surfaces.

Application to aircraft? Not sure.

I think composite structures have different resonances than conventional aluminum and alloy wings.


3 posted on 01/18/2022 8:47:32 AM PST by Texas Fossil ((Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!))
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To: Scarlett156

“Paint A Crazy Picture,”
Ha, that’s Entertainment!
Thanks,
Trailing edges are Fascinating !


4 posted on 01/18/2022 8:58:07 AM PST by Big Red Badger (Make His Paths Straight!)
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To: Scarlett156

Sounds more like,a wandering Napa Valley rebob, aka flying monkey- they love parrots

https://crypticchroniclespodcast.com/the-napa-rebobs/


6 posted on 01/18/2022 9:02:33 AM PST by Bob434
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To: Scarlett156

Owls are a composite of unique functioning parts. It’s almost as though they were...created...that way.


12 posted on 01/18/2022 9:25:48 AM PST by lurk (u)
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To: Scarlett156

Owls go after Jays? Bring more owls.


14 posted on 01/18/2022 9:33:56 AM PST by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: Scarlett156

Soon quiet helicopters.


22 posted on 01/18/2022 10:00:34 AM PST by Agatsu77
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To: Scarlett156

Wind turbine noise. Oops. But I thought wind power had no downside...


23 posted on 01/18/2022 10:06:03 AM PST by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (America -- July 4, 1776 to November 3, 2020 -- R.I.P.)
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To: Scarlett156

It appears every time I read about a new breakthrough, it’s coming out of China.


25 posted on 01/18/2022 10:44:59 AM PST by Lazamataz (He who does, does not talk. He who talks, does not do.)
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To: Scarlett156
IIRC, the Horten brothers put a lot of thought into wingtip and trailing-edge design for their flying wing aircraft.


27 posted on 01/18/2022 10:48:26 AM PST by PLMerite ("They say that we were Cold Warriors. Yes, and a bloody good show, too." - Robert Conquest )
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To: Scarlett156

Fig 3. Schematic of geometric models of the (a) owl-based airfoil, (b) oblique-arc trailing-edge serrations, and (c) conventional trailing-edge serrations.

30 posted on 01/18/2022 11:14:47 AM PST by Alas Babylon! (Rush, we're missing your take on all of this!)
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To: Scarlett156

boundary layer shedding? or not fast enough


36 posted on 01/18/2022 11:59:42 AM PST by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
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To: Scarlett156

My wife and I were watching a cardinal on the railing of our deck, admiring the beauty. Wham, a hawk snatched it up in a shower of feathers. Pretty cool.


41 posted on 01/18/2022 1:04:49 PM PST by GingisK
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To: Scarlett156

BS. The chicoms are actually experimenting with owl viruses.


47 posted on 01/18/2022 1:33:34 PM PST by Nachoman (Following victory, its best to reload.)
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To: Scarlett156
"paint a crazy picture every once in a while."

We're not talking Vincent Van-Gogh "Cutoff an ear crazy," are we?

How about Edvard Munch, The Scream done in 1893 kind of crazy?

52 posted on 01/18/2022 3:19:30 PM PST by Stanwood_Dave ("Testilying." Cop's lie, only while testifying, as taught in their respected Police Academy(s). )
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To: Scarlett156

Many years ago, was back visiting the folks in Montana and took a walk around their small farm. The south end of the farm was populated with Ponderosa pine of various sizes and ages. Dad had told me he had seen a pair of Great Horned owls around.
Anyway. Traipsing along lost in a haze of memories, I was enjoying the smell of the pines and crunch of the needles and small twigs and cones, when I was brought out of my time-travel reverie with a heart-stopping shock when a Great Horned owl skimmed silently, and slowly, over my head but a couple of feet above. It was all wings, with a wing-span of some six feet or more, and gave me one HELLUVA start (a “dial 9-1-1 and charge-the-defibrillator” kind of start). Completely silent. I’ve had geese and large ravens glide over but their glide is an audible whisper. The owl was utterly soundless. If I had been aware, I could have nearly touched it, so low was its glide path. Very cool.


53 posted on 01/18/2022 3:32:49 PM PST by Montana_Sam (Truth lives.)
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