My grandkids are at that great stage in life when they laugh at knock-knock jokes.

Knock knock.

Who’s there?

Cargo.

Cargo who?

Nope. Owl go who. Car go beep beep. Ha!

I love to admire the weird, wild, wacky and wonderful creatures God has created.

One bird that I give a hoot about is the owl. You know what we call people who study this amazing bird? Know-it-owls. And you thought they were ornithologists.

Eyes and Ears

Owls are wise because they have big bright eyes and they don’t say much. But their wisdom isn’t what has researchers so excited. Recent discoveries indicate that the owl is very likely the world’s most perfectly designed hunter.

When they hunt, it’s a … free for owl. (OK, I’ll stop now.)

This nocturnal critter’s razor-sharp vision helps them see more clearly than any night-vision goggles ever created. They can pinpoint prey from a great distance, but here’s the thing: an owl can close its eyes and do fine, too.

Its hearing is better than any animal ever tested. Its facial feathers form a circular bowl, acting like a satellite dish to capture sound. Specialized feathers funnel the sound to the owl’s ear canals. Many owls have ear holes positioned one higher than the other. Sound reaches one ear a fraction of a second later than the other, allowing their brain to create a highly intricate map of its surroundings.

Perched high in a tree, its sensitive ears can pinpoint the precise location of a mouse deep beneath snow or under dense brush. Once it hones in on the doomed mouse, the owl flies toward the sound using another weapon: silent flight.

Winging It

This daytime napper’s feathers have a velvet-like coating that dampens sound and muffles the noise of feathers rubbing together. Tiny serrations along the leading edge of the owl’s wing look like a pointy comb, splitting the wind as it flows over the top of the wing. Feathers at the trailing end of the wing have ragged edges, which prevent turbulence and allow the owl to flap its wings as quiet as the mouse they are seeking.

Compared to its body weight, an owl’s wings are enormous, so the owl doesn’t need to flap them as often or as hard as other birds do. If you fly on Owl Airlines, your flight would be virtually silent. Even highly sensitive microphones have trouble picking up the sound of an owl in flight.

It can hear perfectly well as it cuts through the air. If the mouse scurries to a different spot,the owl adjusts midflight. And that mouse has no idea what’s coming. In the winter, owls can be seen plunging from the sky into snowbanks. Almost inevitably, they emerge with a meal clutched in their talons.

Perched high in a tree, its sensitive ears can pinpoint the precise location of a mouse deepbeneath snow or under dense brush. PHIL CALLAWAY

Design for Life

Whoever designed this magnificent bird knew exactly what they were doing.

In Genesis 1:20, God says, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.”

Of course, some insist that the owl is a product of random unguided chance, of 3.7 billion years of trial and error. If you believe so, hey, we can still be friends, but without a wise Designer in the picture, the ways of a wise old owl don’t make a hoot of sense to me. Nothing comes from nothing.

The more I learn about the stunning complexity of every system and cell, the more convinced I am of God’s existence, His boundless wisdom, and His great love for you and me and my grandkids.

Which reminds me: Knock knock. Who’s there? Owl. Owl who? Owl always love you.

Illustration: dianaorozco/stock.Adobe.com