Mark Wilson - Owling: Enter the World of the Mysterious Birds of the Night

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Edited by Deborah Burns and Lisa H. Hiley

Art direction and book design by Jessica Armstrong

Text production by Erin Dawson

Indexed by Nancy D. Wood

Cover photography by Mark Wilson, except front, background, by Free Nature Stock/Pexels .com; inside back, author, by Jean Herrick

Spine graphic by curly pat/ Shutterstock.com

Interior photography by Mark Wilson

Additional interior photography by Aaron D. Flesch, t.

Illustrations by Jada Fitch

Range maps and silhouettes by Ilona Sherratt. Range maps adapted from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology All About Birds website, www.allaboutbirds.org .

Front cover owls, from left to right: Eastern Screech-Owl, red morph; Snowy Owl; Flammulated Owl; Great Horned Owl; Barn Owl; Great Gray Owl; Northern Saw-whet Owl

Text 2019 by Mark Wilson

Ebook production by Kristy L. MacWilliams

Ebook version 1.0

March 5, 2019

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Wilson, Mark Chester, 1959 author.

Title: Owling : enter the world of the mysterious birds of the night / Mark Wilson.

Description: North Adams, MA : Storey Publishing, [2019] | Audience: Age 812. | Audience: Grade 4 to 6. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018041436 (print) | LCCN 2018043463 (ebook) | ISBN 9781612129631 (ebook) | ISBN 9781612129624 (hardcover with glow-in-the-dark ink on cover : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: OwlsJuvenile literature.

Classification: LCC QL696.S8 (ebook) | LCC QL696.S8 W55 2019 (print) | DDC 598.9/7dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018041436

A Great Gray Owl sweeps silently across a snowy field, hunting for voles tunneling beneath the white blanket.

You might not realize it, but you need to see an owl. Not in a zoo or a museum but in the wild, uncaged and free. But how do you even find an owl, never mind spend time watching it?

Maybe you will hear a distant hoot outside your bedroom window or, if youre lucky, glimpse a passing shadow in the night woods. But mostly, owls seem unknowable, even invisible. Sometimes it seems like youd have more chance of seeing Bigfoot. Or maybe a unicorn. But owls are real and they live around you, maybe closer than you think. You just need to know more about them.

Owls may be living closer to you than you realize. Is there an owl in your backyard?

Lets venture into the secret world of owls, a world most people will never know. Bring your questions, as well as sharp eyes and eager ears. The owls are waiting and watching for your arrival.

A Barred Owl studies a visitor to its woods.

What Is It about Owls?

Even people who know very little about birds can identify an owl. No one mistakes an owl, with its big head, large eyes, and imposing presence, for any other kind of bird.

Why do owls fascinate us so? Is it because they are (claws) mounted on powerful feet are most impressive.

Perhaps the magic starts in the owls face, specifically the eyes. Those huge, impossible-to-ignore eyes, facing forward with an intense expression, immediately capture our attention and affection. With their all-seeing eyes, owls not only look at you but seem to look through you. Its almost as if they can read your mind!

When you lock eyes with an owl, the stare-down can be a bit unnerving. Its hard to look away, but no one ever wins a staring contest with an owl.

Wise Old Owl?

An owl may remind you of a person stern, serious, sometimes cranky, but lovable. Big saucers of fine feathers, called , encircle the eyes of many owl species, framing its stare. The owls all-knowing air is reinforced by its ability to turn its head more than halfway around in each direction.

Their large eyes give owls an air of intelligence that lets be honest here they havent necessarily earned. Because their eyes face forward like human eyes, we are tempted to believe that owls think like us. Those huge eyes give the owl its keen sight, but they mean less room in the skull for the brain. Owls arent like ravens, which can count; or crows, which can fashion tools from twigs; or African grey parrots, which can learn enough words to communicate with people. Owls do have good memories, though.

Owls look smarter than they really are.

Parts of an Owl Head

How come owls have a unibrow?

The facial disks, which come together to form one large overhanging eyebrow, add to the intense look of the owl. The disks also act like the brim of a baseball cap and help shade the eyes from direct sunlight.

Why do some owls have ear tufts?

Ear tufts might be useful for camouflage, or maybe to help the owls communicate their moods. Its possible that ear tufts catch sound from behind the owl and direct it into the ears. More research on owl ears is needed!