What does an owl look like?

Owls have short, thick bodies; strong, hooked beaks,  and powerful feet with sharp claws, or talons.

Most owls have feathers on their legs and toes.  The feathers protect them from  the cold.

There are tufts of feathers that stick up like ears on an owl's face.  But they aren't ears at all!  In fact, nobody knows what they are for.  How strange. An owl's large ear openings are on the sides of its head.  The stiff feathers around the eyes act like an antenna.  They reflect sound toward the ear openings.

The owl has a curved beak. The eyes are very large.  These eyes point forward, unlike the eyes of most birds.  For this reason owls can watch an object with both eyes at the same time.

The smallest of owls is the tiny elf owl of the southwestern United States and western Mexico.  It is hardly 6 inches long.

The largest owl is the great gray owl, which lives in the deep woods of Canada and Alaska as far north as trees grow.  It is 30 inches long, and has a wingspan of 54 to 60 inches.

Picture is from Snowy Owls