Why are some people afraid of owls, or think that they are spooky?
Strigiformophobia is the fear of owls. Some people are afraid of their big eyes, or how they move their heads. Strigiformophobes may also suffer from Ommetaphobia (fear of eyes) or Ornithophobia (fear of birds).
Other people are afraid of what owls symbolize—early Romans thought they were evil symbols, associated with witches, and ancient Aztecs and Maya associated them with death and destruction.
I prefer the way owls are seen in Greek mythology, as a symbol of wisdom associated with Athena. One time I even had an owl walk for my birthday party (the kids were too noisy to hear any owls, but we did paint an owl house). I also learned last year to do an owl call (the barred owl’s who-cooks-for-you call is the easiest one to learn). Here are some other owl calls:
You can find our more about the owls and their calls with the Audubon Society.
Some other cool things to know about owls:
Like bats, owls live on every continent except Antarctica.
Owls are raptors, which means they are big, predatory birds.
There are so many species of owls—more than 200!—and they are so beautiful that Mamie made a whole owl-phabet with a different owl or owl fact for every letter.
Harriet has Mamie’s Animals of North Carolina on her wall, but in honor of fall and owls we might switch it out for the owl-phabet. H is for Harriet and the Great Horned Owl:
Owls can see very, very well—especially at night, when they hunt. Their eyes are not round spheres, like ours, but are more like tubes. This means they can’t move or roll their eyes. Instead, they turn their whole heads very far from side to side—270 degrees. Their eyes are also really big, up to 3% of an owl’s body weight!
Their ears are also special, and are often slightly different sizes and placed asymmetrically on their heads. This makes it possible for them to hear exactly where that mouse is scuffling in the grass…
Or even where another owl is perched! Owls also hunt shrews, insects, lemmings, frogs, gophers, and other small animals (including bats)—and some owls even hunt large birds, like other owls and osprey.
Another thing that makes owls great at hunting is their large wings and soft feathers help them fly almost completely silently.
Even though owls are carnivores, they can’t chew. They usually swallow their prey whole, where it passes into their gizzard. Anything they can’t digest gets compacted into a pellet, which they regurgitate and which you might find in the woods. Owl pellets are super cool, furry, and can be all shapes. They look kind of like cat hairballs—if your cat also coughed up bones. Many owl pellets will contain a skull, which makes it possible to identify what the owl ate.
Dissecting an owl pellet sounds really interesting, but you should only do it with supervision by someone who knows how to dissect them safely. We have found owl pellets twice, but have never dissected one because owl pellets can contain diseases and bacteria (like salmonella) that can make you sick. Owl pellets need to be sterilized before you can dissect them, and even then you have to be very careful.
This video from the BBC has some beautiful and amazing owl footage:
Did you know that a group of owls is called a parliament?
What other facts do you know or like about owls? Have you ever been owling?
I learned so much about owls in this post! Thank you for sharing. Mamie made owlphabets for my grandsons, Miles and Marcus. They are your cousins and I hope some day you and Harriet will get to meet them. Miles lives in Raleigh and his mother, my daughter, Beth is also your cousin as am I. Beth works at NC State like your mother. I really enjoy FFT and share much information from it with Miles who is 5. Marcus is only 3 moths old and lives in Atlanta, His mother is Beth's twin sister and her name is Torie, Your Mamie is my cousin and I have always adored her! we were very close when we were children and still are. My love to you. Harriet, your mom, and dad,
Thank you for the post, Bea (and past ones I have read). On a trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains, we stopped to check out a display of some North American bird egg replicas that a ranger had to share and noticed that the owl eggs were very round- especially the screech owl. I learned that birds that are better at flying have a narrower oviduct so they lay more elongated eggs. I felt a little defensive of the owls, thinking that they fly very well! But I guess they don't tend to fly long distances. Perhaps there are other reasons for variable egg shape.