Unique flow features of the silent southern Boobook owl wake during flapping flight

TL;DR

This study investigates the unique wake flow features of the silent flight of the southern boobook owl, revealing chaotic wake patterns and vortex suppression mechanisms that contribute to its stealthy flight.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed characterization of owl wake dynamics during flapping flight, highlighting how owls manipulate flow structures for silent flight.

Findings

Owl wake is more chaotic with smaller vortices compared to other birds.

The pressure in the owl's wake is reduced to near zero, aiding noise suppression.

Owls manipulate wake vortices to minimize aeroacoustic signals.

Abstract

The mechanisms associated with an owls ability to fly silently have been the subject of scientific interest for many decades and a source of inspiration in the context of reducing noise in both flapping and non-flapping flight. Here, we characterize the near wake dynamics and associated flow structures that are produced by flying owls. The goal is to shed light on unique flow features that result from the owls wing morphology and its motion during forward flapping flight. We study the wake of the southern boobook owl (Ninox boobook); a mid-sized owl, which shares the common feature of stealthy flight. Three individual owls were flown, separately, in a climatic avian wind tunnel at their comfortable speed. The velocity field in the wake was sampled using long-duration highspeed Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) while the wings kinematics were imaged simultaneously using high speed video. The time series of velocity maps that were acquired over several consecutive wingbeat cycles enable us to characterize the wake patterns and associate them with the various phases of the wingbeat cycle. Results reveal that the owls wake is significantly different compared with other birds (western sandpiper, Calidris mauri; European starling, Strunus vulgaris). The near wake of the owl did not exhibit any apparent shedding of organized vortices. Instead, a more chaotic wake pattern is observed, in which the characteristic scales of vorticity (associated with turbulence) are substantially smaller in comparison to other birds. Estimating the pressure field developed in the wake depicts that the owl reduces the pressure to approximately zero. It is therefore conjectured that owls manipulate the near wake to suppress the aeroacoustic signal by controlling the size of vortices generated in its wake, which are associated with noise reduction through suppression of the pressure field