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https://theconversation.com/spooky-stealthy-night-hunters-revealing-the-wonderful-otherworld-of-owls-209498>
"The calls of owls come to me most nights through the open window of my
bedroom. Mostly it is the soft, repeated, rhythmic more … pork, more … pork of
a pair of boobooks.
Sometimes, more grandly, it is the deeper, slower woo hoo … woo hoo of a
powerful owl, hunting for possums in the creek-side forest. Even less common
but more unnerving is the truly weird screaming and distinctive whistling
(likened to a falling bomb) of a sooty owl.
These calls in the dark invite me into a mysterious world of heightened sensory
perceptions beyond the constraints of human experience.
This otherness of owls, and their mastery of the dark – that place in which we
are most fearful, most inexpert – has long fascinated and spooked us.
In almost all cultures, owls have been accorded a special significance –
sometimes as symbols and talismans of wisdom, sometimes as messengers from the
dead, sometimes as an embodiment of evil. They are perhaps the most iconic and
intriguing of all birds. As told in a new book, we attach otherworldly
significance to owls “because they enchant the environment”.
In
What an owl knows: the new science of the world’s most enigmatic birds,
American science writer Jennifer Ackerman makes much of this mystery
accessible; her explanations accentuate, rather than diminish, the wonder of
owls. She weaves in strands of knowledge drawn from recent owl research carried
out by an endearing cast of committed scientists and splendidly obsessed
volunteers.
Indeed, much of her book is not so much about owls, but rather about the people
who choose to venture with them. In some cases, this “owling” is a solace and
salve from the pains of normal life; sometimes it is a life-time odyssey born
out of and shaped by a wondrous early experience.
Ackerman provides a highly accessible account of all aspects of the lives of
owls, a diverse but very distinctive set of birds, numbering about 260 species.
Owls occur across all continents other than Antarctica, spanning an
environmental gradient from the freezing Arctic (home of the stunningly
beautiful snowy owl, of Harry Potter fame) to the hottest deserts (home of elf
owls)."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
