Thursday, March 16, 2017

We're All Ears -March 17 Owls

photo of owl photo credit :: https://unsplash.com/@cliff_77
photo credit :: https://unsplash.com/@cliff_77
This month's We're All Ears challenge question is --What about the owls inspires you? Our challenge is to make earrings inspired by OWLS.

As a group of birds, owls have been around for a long time. Owl fossils have been found that are 70–80 million years old. Today, members of the owl family can be found on every continent except Antarctica.  Owls represent wisdom and truth with piercing eyes that are all-seeing, even in the darkest of nights. Silent, secret and majestic. 

Owl Earrings by BayMoonDesign
Owl Earrings by BayMoonDesign

The piercing eyes on these silver owl beads remind me of the all-seeing of the owl and were the inspiration for this pair of handmade owl earrings.  
This copper owl jewelry has hand forged sterling silver ear wires along with the hammered copper discs. Both were handmade by me.  The  14mm. round, antique copper beads are from BeachCastleBeads.  I added a few crystals for a little sparkle.

photo of owl photo credit :: https://unsplash.com/@johnrichdesign
photo credit :: https://unsplash.com/@johnrichdesign
Owls are mostly nocturnal, hunting at night when the other raptors are sleeping. Because of this, owls and other raptors can share a territory and tend to not compete with each other.  When we think of owls, we think of being active at night. But even among the owls, enjoying the nightlife does not always mean the same thing.   The barn owl and long-eared owl become active only after dark. In contrast, burrowing owls and pygmy owls are more likely to be diurnal — active during the day. And the great horned owl is crepuscular. This means that it is most active at dawn and dusk.


photo of owl.photo credit :: https://unsplash.com/@bedrock123
photo credit :: https://unsplash.com/@bedrock123

I find the wings of owls beautiful. Most owls have relatively large, rounded wings. The wings are broad, with a large surface area relative to the weight of the bird. This allows them to fly effortlessly, without too much flapping and loss of energy. They can glide easily and fly slowly for long periods of time. Many species use this slow flight to hunt ground-dwelling prey from the air.

Owls are known for their ability to fly nearly silently. This is because of the special shape to their wings and the structure of the feathers. Most birds make a sort of flapping, swooshing sound when they fly. But owls have special edge on the front of the wing that breaks air into small streams of wind that rolls to the end of the wing where the comb-like feathers further break the air into even smaller streams. This give them almost silent flight.


Owl at Night Earrings by BayMoonDesign

An owl at night is the inspiration for these black faux sea glass from ZnetShows and silver wing earrings from NinaDesigns. I hand forged the sterling silver ear wires on this pair of owl wing earrings. The black and silver earrings are about 1.5 inches long from the top of the ear wires to the bottom. These sterling silver earrings are stunning and fun gift for especially for a bird or nature lover.
photo credit :: https://unsplash.com/@t_rat_max


Be sure to stop by the We're All Ears Blog to see what the owl has inspired others to create.

14 comments:

  1. Such a delightful read! I love hearing about the inspiration and learning all these facts is fascinating. I didn't know that they are on every continent but Antarctica, but that makes sense. Beautiful earrings befitting such a majestic animal inspiration! Thanks for playing along with me! Enjoy the day. Erin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for the compliment about my blog. I appreciate it.

      Delete
  2. Great post. I especially love the mixed metal owl earrings.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Tammy! I am happy with the mixed metal earrings. I hope to do more.

      Delete
  3. Gorgeous owl earrings and post write up!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great pictures of owls. We once had an owl break through the screen in our screened patio and could not get out. It was a shock in the morning to see him perched on our patio chair. We had to cut away more of the screen to get him to fly out! He refused to go out the door!
    Very interesting earrings and great design!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cute story about your owl encounter. Thanks for the compliments.

      Delete
  5. Great earrings: I love how you combined copper with silver charms in the 1st pair. The 2nd pair is pretty unique: the wings look amazing on the black background.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The contrast of the bright and dark in both pairs makes the owl components stand out even more. 2 lovely pairs of owl earrings
    Mona

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ooh... I love that first pair with the copper and silver! Those are really nice owl charms!

    ReplyDelete
  8. everyone loves owls! very cute

    ReplyDelete