Fascinating Owls

My painting of owls

Owls, fascinating!!

I like all birds but owls have a big fascination for me for some reason. They seem different to other birds. We don't see them at our bird feeders or chasing little birds around the sky. Invariably in books and stories they are considered wise.

A friend sent me some very interesting photos of owls and all were so well camouflaged it was difficult to actually see the owl even in broad daylight so that explains why we don't see many. They are there all in plain sight if we but look it seems.

Look hard for this owl

The saddest thing I think I ever saw concerning owls was when we went to a rehabilitation center for damaged wildlife in The land between the Lakes near Paducah, Two poor old owls were sitting in a box tethered to a branch and looked so sad. When we asked about them we were told they had been there for many years both severely damaged in accidents so neither could fly anymore.Yes they were kept alive but seemed to have so little joy in life.

At our last house we actually had an old tree that had an owl nest in it. Occasionally you would see a little head poking out at the top of the hole but you had to be very quick to catch a glimpse of the little owl.

Also at that house we had a bathroom window that looked over a part of the house that had an outside light hanging from a corner. At night if you were very quiet you could look out hear a quiet shushing sound and there would be two owls swooping in almost silently to catch the moths and bugs attracted to the light. It was fasciating and a sight to behold.

Maybe that is why I tried to paint the owl picture. It reminds me of them.

A wise old owl sat in an oak,
The more he heard, the less he spoke;
The less he spoke, the more he heard;
Why aren't we all like that wise old bird?

Old nursery rhyme.