By: Bill Hopkins
“For more than sixty-seven million years, owls have roamed the earth, flying, hunting, and raising their families in the dark.”
Leigh Calvez is a writer and naturalist in the Pacific Northwest and the author of The Hidden Lives of Owls: The Science and Spirit of Nature’s Most Elusive Birds.
In this slender, accessible book Ms Calvez joins owl experts and conservationists on many expeditions to see owls in their natural habitat. She recounts adventures with 11 different species, including the Barred, Flammulated, Northern Saw-Whet, Northern Pygmy, Northern Spotted, Burrowing, Snowy, and Great Gray.
In some cases her adventures involve participating in academic studies and in other cases it involves more casual observations. In all cases she tells her stories in a very personal, anecdotal style that engages the reader in the life of owls, their mythology, social behavior, human-animal connections, and breeding and nesting habits.
Sometimes the stories can be quite moving, as in her attempt to keep alive a nesting Great Grey female and her four chicks after the male parent is killed by a predator. As with most owl species the male becomes the sole provider of food for the entire owl family after the eggs hatch, while the female remains in the nest to keep the hatchlings warm and protected. The death of the male can mean the failure of the entire brood. The author and a friend caught up to 15 mice a day and transferred them to the female owl, at the same time bonding in a very personal way with the little owl family. You’ll be pleased to know that all survived.
This book contains lots of owl wisdom.