Why owls are so popular?

“A wise old owl sat in an oak,

The more he saw the less he spoke,

The less he spoke the more he heard,

Why can’t we all be like that wise old bird.”

-Anonymous poem-

    Not long ago I noticed that many owls appeared around me. I saw them everywhere in the regular life, in first place because of fashion. The owls have been in stile couple of years already. I didn’t catch sight of their first appearance but I remember when I started to like them a lot. A jewelry initiated my love and then owls began revealed themselves everywhere in my environment.

    Sometimes, when I like something I try to get deeper about it to find out why I like it. Is it just another fashion trends or there is something more? On the other hand some additional knowledge about the subject can allow me to say that I like it not because everyone likes it, but because I know something meaningful about it, even if it’s not total true.

    So, I think the owls are cute, and in the following text you will see why ;).

    Few other creatures have so many different and contradictory beliefs about them.

    And why has so much folklore, myth and just plain nonsense attached itself to owls?

    In Navaho Indian legend Nayenezgani, the creator, made the first owl, telling it: “… in days to come men will listen to your voice to know what will be their future.”

    In tales from a wide variety of culture, owls are judges, sages, gurus and prophets. So firmly attached is the association of owls with wisdom that the bird are use in modern-day advertising to project this image. Maybe it’s because people use to interpret the things they can’t understand like they want them to be.

    Then where did the idea that owls are the epitome of wisdom comes from? Much of this idea can be attributed to owls’ appearance and behavior. Owls look like little people; aren’t people wise? They have kind of “face” and all structure of body alike, just small and covered by feathers. Owls must be short and stubby philosophers, clothed in a scholar’s robe of feathers. Owls also tend to sit quietly, and they give the impression of being deep in thoughts. Owls have marvelous, tree-colored feathers that camouflage them perfectly – as long as they don’t move. People, of course, have put their own interpretation on this behavior.

    Owls have incredible ability to see in night, they can see at least 35 times better than we can at night. This ability made them mysterious, possessors of supernatural power for people. That’s why owls were associated with the dead, since the dead were mysterious as well. This ability to see at night made them good in guidance and perfect hunters at nighttime.

    They have another sense that is even more remarkable than their vision – their hearing. The ears of owls are also equipped to pick up high frequency sounds that are outside our hearing range. So, they have miraculous ability to hunt in conditions where people would be helpless made them appear mysterious.  

    Owl family groups may stay together for an extended period and family members do a lot of talking among themselves, using a wide variety of shrieks, hoots, moans, rasps and barks. The birds are capable of producing sounds that don’t seem remotely bird-like. Owls almost never associate with other owls outside of the family group, so they don’t need complex social skills.

    Another reason owls have a reputation for eeriness is their unique ability to fly virtually soundlessly. Owl’s feathers are soft. Arabs at one time thought that owls were the sounds of people who died unavenged.

    So, how we can see the owl is appropriate candidate to honor, respect and love in contemporary time too.