Owls have special fringed feathers at the tips of their wings called flutings. What is the purpose of these feathers?

Sounds made by things moving through air is usually caused by turbulence. Owl flutings break up the air causing turbulence to only occur in very small and disperse amounts (known as micro-turbulence), thus making their flight nearly silent.

Asked by Todd Curtis · Last updated 5 years ago · 369.2K views