Great horned owls have always symbolized wisdom, knowledge, and the afterlife. In the wild, they are fierce predators and even fiercer protectors of their young, and this maternal owl in the below ...

CHAMPAIGN -- “Birds of omen, dark and foul,” wrote Sir Walter Scott about owls, once considered harbingers of doom, death, and destruction. In Medieval Europe, owls were thought to be witches and an ...

The Great Grey Owl practices tireless hunting efforts. This has to do with the owl’s decision not to migrate, but instead to remain in the same location year-round. Consequently, during the winter, ...

It’s dusk, and you’re outside taking down the last of the Christmas decorations. Suddenly, you hear what sounds like a ping-pong ball that just got dropped. It starts out slow, accelerates in tempo ...

Ms. Ackerman is the author of “What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds,” from which this essay is excerpted. When the first lucky observers spotted Flaco, the Eurasian ...

Don’t let owls’ cute faces fool you—they’re deadly predators. This duality is part of what makes them so mysterious to humans. And their contradictions don’t end there: Their hoots are among the most ...

It was well north of 3 a.m. when the soft hooting of a distant great horned owl pulled me from the gentle arms of Morpheus, that mythological god of sleep and dreams. In the heat and stillness of the ...

The sound was unmistakable and led me outdoors to face the thick woods across the road. In the advancing twilight the sound pierced the darkness again, and then again. The ghostly mournful wail, best ...

Several of great gray owls' physical features, especially parts of their wings and face, help them correct for sonic distortions caused by snow, enabling them to find hidden, moving food with ...

Owls make their homes in many national parks around the country, though they can be tricky to spot. Here are a few profiles of these elusive birds, which have been both revered and feared throughout ...

Some bats buzz like wasps and bees when grasped, and the sound seems to deter predatory owls. The findings reveal what may be the first known case of a mammal mimicking an insect, researchers report ...

Although Northern Saw-whet owls are one of the most abundant forest raptors in North America, they are rarely seen due to their nocturnal and secretive nature. Until recent decades, the diminutive ...