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<\/p>\nOk folks, I need some help with this one.<\/p>\n
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1\/1600, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I photographed this very young juvenile Short-eared Owl three months ago in Box Elder County, Utah. I have quite a few nice photos of it and I posted\u00a0a couple\u00a0of them here several months ago.\u00a0Last night I stumbled across those images again and as I was reviewing\u00a0them I noticed something that I’d missed earlier.<\/p>\n Take a close look at the eyes of this bird.\u00a0In this image\u00a0they appear normal to me except that the left pupil might be ever so slightly larger and in my experience there’s absolutely nothing unusual about that.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n But just seconds later the left eye had apparently moved within the skull while the right eye had not so the eyes appear to be looking in different directions. It almost looks like strabismus (crossed eyes) in humans but that should be impossible in owls for the following reasons:<\/p>\n But they cannot move their eyes within their\u00a0skulls – they can only look straight ahead.<\/p>\n So what accounts for what I captured here? Am I misinterpreting what I think I’m seeing? Is my understanding about the functioning of owl eyes incorrect? Is there possibly some physical anomaly in this bird that would allow it to move that eye within its skull? I don’t know\u00a0so I’m stumped and curious as hell.<\/p>\n This isn’t a phenomenon captured in just one photo. I have several images that show the left eye in each position.<\/p>\n So if anyone out there can scratch my curiosity itch it would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for any thoughts on the subject.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n PS – For those who might like to see a diagrammatic representation of the anatomy of an owl’s eye and a detailed explanation of how their eyes work you can visit this link to\u00a0The Owl Pages<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Late Addendum<\/strong>: With major help from my readers in the comments below I believe we may\u00a0have solved the mystery – the nictitating membrane is likely the major cause of what I was seeing. When I originally read those comments on my phone while I was out shooting this morning I was skeptical that it was caused by the membrane but after I arrived home I did a tight crop on the owl’s head\u00a0of the high res file (image below)\u00a0and in that version the membrane is clearly visible over the inside corner of the eye. I believe that when combined with the left pupil being dilated more than the other one it gave the illusion that the eyes were looking in\u00a0slightly different directions. Now I don’t believe they were.<\/em><\/p>\n However, there’s apparently\u00a0still something going on with that left eye. I have other images that show the membrane in the same position (partially closed). Since the membrane normally closes and opens very fast I shouldn’t have multiple back to back\u00a0images that show the same thing. To complicate things further, in some of my photos I can’t see the membrane at all which suggests to me that the bird kept it partially closed much of the time (unusual) but was capable of completely opening it at other times. <\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/short-eared-owl-8328-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"short-eared-owl-8328-ron-dudley\\"")
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