Owls' eyes are just as good in the day as they are at night.
Owls' eyes come in three different colors. The owls that live in North America have yellow or brown eyes. European owls have orange eyes.
A thin tissue called the iris covers the front of the eye and gives the eye color. In the center of the iris, there is a pupil. The pupil controls how much light gets in the eye. On sunny days the pupil shrinks to block out the sun. At night the pupil gets bigger to let more light in. The pupils let the owl hunt in the dark.
Owls and people have sensitive cells in their eyes called cones and rods. Rods help dim the light, cones help them see color. Owls' eyes have many rods but not many cones. Therefore, many owls see only black and white.
Owls and people both have binocular vision. Binocular vision is when the two eyes are in front of the head and see the same thing with both eyes. Binocular vision also helps by seeing how fast an object is going, how far away it is and the size.
Humans have a field of vision of 180 degrees and 120 degrees with each eye. Owls only have a 125 degree field of vision, 50 degrees with each eye.
Owls can't move their eyes around in their sockets so they must move their head. Owls have fourteen neck bones. Their neck bones let an owl turn its head 270 degrees in both directions. This is not quite a full turn. Unlike us, an owl can turn its head around to see what is sneaking up behind it.