Facial disc

The face veil is a key distinguishing feature of owls and some other birds. As a face veil while the annular rim of the front head is denoted by stiff, specially shaped springs. They reinforce and direct the sound waves towards the ears. The inner veil thereby covers the ear entrance and above the outer veil which is a second and larger spring ring. It forms the trailing edge of the head side and can be deformed different from the inner face veil.

Together with the ear tufts, which have no influence on the hearing ability of the owls, the face veil plays a special role in the social and enemy behavior because the owl thus can signal their mood.

In many species of owls, the veil is lifted by a marked contrast drawing from the rest of plumage coloration. In the barn owl, he was even name-giving. In other owl species such as the eagle owl he is optically not as strong hook.

Face veil also occur in other species of birds. For example, have ordinations or the New Zealand Kakapo, which is threatened with extinction, also a striking Gesichtsbefiederung, which has been termed as a face veil. Whether this also serves the Kakapo to enhance the hearing performance, has not yet been adequately studied.