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<\/a><\/p>\nThis is a big crop of an older photo of a female Prairie Falcon cleaning her messy feet after a huge meal of duck that obviously gorged her crop. We can clearly see her right nostril baffle so typical of falcons.<\/p>\n
It’s well known that falcons fly incredibly fast so they have bony cone-shaped baffles just inside their nostrils that are believed to disrupt the air flow and reduce the pressure of air rushing into the their nostrils and lungs. Humans actually copied that cone-shaped design in our modern jet engines. As jet aircraft became faster and faster the engines started choking out because at those speeds the air largely bypassed the air-breathing engine. Engineers found the solution by looking at the nostril cones of Peregrine Falcons. As a result modern jet engines have a metallic cone in front of the engine to disrupt the airflow and allow the engine to \u201cbreathe\u201d more efficiently.<\/p>\n
But do accipiters like Cooper’s Hawks also have baffles in their nostrils? I always thought baffles were exclusive to falcons but I believe I remember one of my falconer blog followers (Laura Culley?) saying several years ago that at least some hawks have softer, non-bony structures inside their nostrils that have the same function as bony falcon baffles. Until three days ago I’ve never been able to confirm their presence in Cooper’s Hawks because they’re so elusive around here (you have to be very close to see nostril baffles) and because the light angle into the nostril has to be just right.<\/p>\n
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But the same cooperative Cooper’s Hawk in the first three photos above turned its head just right to the sun to reveal what looks to me like a nostril baffle. Or something very similar.<\/p>\n
But if Cooper’s Hawks (and possibly other hawks) have nostril baffles why can’t I find anything about them when I attempt to research them online? I always come up empty. Maybe they have a different name because they’re non-bony or perhaps what I’m seeing here isn’t a baffle at all?<\/p>\n
Some of my blog followers (falconers, rehabbers, avian researchers and others) are extremely raptor-knowledgeable. I’d love to be enlightened…<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
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Late Addendum: I believe the “mystery” may have been solved. Please see Mikal Deese’s first comment thread below for the full explanation.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If so I got my first good look at those marvels of biological engineering three days ago.<\/p>\n
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