Owls are nocturnal birds of prey with large heads and eyes, short hooked bills, and large, strong talons. Their feet are, in fact, freakishly large compared to the rest of them. It is rather frightening. There are over 200 species of owl known to man. Owls are found on every continent except Antarctica, which is the sole province of the penguin. For this reason owls and penguins do not get along very well. It is wise to avoid having owls and penguins too close to each other in the zoo, or gang wars will erupt. The poor penguins are at an extreme disadvantage as they cannot fly. It’s very unfair.
Owls eat mainly rodents. They fly through the forest at night hunting mice, shrews and other small, unsuspecting creatures, which are then eaten whole. The fur, bones and other indigestible critter-bits are excreted as “owl pellets,” which many of us have had to dissect in science class. When an owl’s hunting has been especially good, it may hide some leftovers in a cache somewhere, such as a tree hollow or the fork of two branches. As owls have yet to perfect the science of refrigeration, these caches rarely last very long.
Many people believe that owls are blind in daylight, but this is not true. Owls’ eyes are, in fact, amazingly well-developed and very adjustable: they can see wonderfully well in the dark of night, but can also adjust to see in the daytime. However, due to the construction of the eyes, they cannot move them, and thus to look around they have to move their entire heads. This leads to another common misconception about owls: the heads cannot twist all the way around. The owl’s neck has a range of about 270 degrees - far more than a human’s, but not a full circle. Owls have three eyelids.
Some owls have asymmetrical ears - one higher than the other. This is particularly notable in the barn owl, which is completely nocturnal. It helps the owl locate things using its hearing when its eyesight is not enough: an object which is above the owl will sound different than an object which is below the owl, in the same way that something to the right of the owl (or you) will sound different than something to the left. (Do you remember the hearing tests they administered in school that illustrated this principle?)
Certain owls, such as the Great Horned Owl, have “ear tufts” on the sides of their heads. These are not actually ears, and are in fact not near the owl’s ears (which are located on the sides of the skull just behind the eyes). They are decorative feathers.
The beak of a barn owl (the moon-faced owl that looks like the Shyguys from Super Mario Brothers 2) is especially freakish. It opens like a lid. It is quite odd.
Very few owls migrate, and most roost singly or in pairs. Flocks may form during the non-breeding months, however. A group of owls is called a parliament.
Owls have many roles in mythology and folklore. Most recently, they have appeared in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, in which owls serve as couriers to wizards. Owls have long been associated with the concept of wisdom, from ancient times to the modern use of owls as a symbol for graduates, students and professors. In ancient Greece, owls were associated with the goddess Athena, goddess of wisdom. The owl appeared on coins, temples and banners devoted to Athena, and was the emblem of the city of Athens.
Due to their association with the mysteries of the night, they have also been associated with death and witchcraft. The Romans believed that hearing the hoot of an owl was a harbinger of death. The death of Julius Caesar was said to have been foretold by an owl seen screeching in a marketplace during the daytime. In parts of England it has been said that if an owl is seen flying past the window of a sick person, that person will soon die.
The English held many other folk beliefs concerning owls. If the screeching of a barn owl was heard, cold weather or a storm was on the way. If the owl screeched when the weather was already bad, it meant that a change in the weather was soon due. It was said that if you walked around an owl that was sitting in a tree, it would turn its head to watch you until it wrung its own neck. Owl’s eggs were said to help the eyesight if cooked and eaten.
The Native American tribes held many beliefs about owls, as diverse as the number of tribes. Some believed that dreaming of an owl foretold death. Others believed that when a person died, his soul turned into an owl. Because of this, owls were venerated. A related belief held that each owl was the keeper of the soul of a living person. You would not kill an owl, because to do so would cause the death of the person whose soul the owl represented. Others believed that an owl carried the souls of the dead to the afterlife.
In many African cultures, owls are considered female. It is said that owls hold the souls of women, or that hearing an owl or wearing an owl amulet during pregnancy and childbirth will result in the birth of a girl.
Obviously there’s a kind of death/soul theme going on with the owl.
I can’t think of many words that rhyme with owl. “Bowel” and “vowel” spring to mind instantly. And “cowl.“ Ooh, yeah, and “towel.“ Trowel. Dowel. Fowl (but not foul). Howl. Jowl. Wow, I came up with more than I thought I would. I will now write a poem about an owl. It will be a limerick.
There once was a little black owl
Whose name was Sir Timothy Powell
He liked to say hoooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
And so on ‘til he ran out of vowels.
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