I'm sure a lot of people have already seen Popo-chan transforming on YouTube. So it was no surprise that it came to mind when I saw the owl thief in the first episode of Sora no Woto, and I just had to laugh when the same owl transformed into both forms in the second episode. The point here, of course, is to show the hierarchy of the platoon in the owl's POV...

However!

According to ja.wikipedia, this particular breed of owl, White-faced Scops owl/アフリカオオコノハズク/Ptilopsis leucotis, doesn't alter its body shape depending on the strength of the opponent, as narrated in the video clip. Instead, it mimics a tree branch when it is not yet spotted by the enemy at a distance and still has a chance to run away. When it's discovered by the enemy and too late to escape, it flares its feathers and wings to try to make the enemy back off.

In addition, the act of elongating one's body to mimic a tree branch isn't limited to White-faced Scops owls and is done by other owl breeds as well.

So, kids, don't take everything as the truth on TV, especially if it's meant to be entertaining.

On a side note, what Kanata initially saw underwater, the one wing and partial ribcage, reminded me of Macross Zero. Then the almost-full thing was shown and ruined the moment for me because it rather resembles the famous Archaeopteryx fossil.

On a second note, when I saw the owl emblem and the name 1121 platoon, it reminded me of the 5121 platoon from GunParade March, whose emblem is a black cat. Speaking of GPM, it's the first anime series I bought and the R3 version purchase was spurred by the fact that Haniwa-dono translated it. I used to want a PS for the longest time so I could play the original game, too (I kinda gave up the idea since the game is too hard to find). Seeing people's fan arts made me realize the anime didn't even scratch the surface of the complexity and depth of the game. I think I would want the novels as supplementary material...