>>29342445>>29342506Considering how many actual birds relax by putting one leg up, there wasn't much reason to do away with that...but maybe it was meant to imply that the evolved version is more alert, and relaxes less frequently, as is expected of adults. That doesn't excuse doing away with the clockwork owliness, though.
Actually, Hoothoot's "eyelashes" can be read as analogous to the feathers that gives real owls their satellite-dish-faced exceptional hearing. Noctowl does away with that, and obstructs the vision, both in the service of giving the evolved model a maturely frowny face. I'd say that makes Noctowl LESS realistic.
Hoothoot can easily be read as a flight-incapable owlet with down still long enough to hide one foot, beginning to develop the facial structures that will lead it to survive as an owl. Noctowl, for the sake of a threatening look, has sacrificed some of the most important sensory adaptations owls have made.
