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 Wildville!
The Owl
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Strigiformes
Family: Strigidae and
Tytonidae
Every year Houston, Minnesota, celebrates the Festival of the Owls to honor these extraordinary birds. Owls have been known as wise creatures because they represented Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. But owls were also thought of as bad omens because they are silent birds of the night.
Owls are nocturnal animals, which means they are awake at night. They live all over the world, except for Antarctica. There are many different kinds of owls, but all have flat faces with small curved beaks and big feet with large talons. Owls have very large round eyes, but they cannot move their eyes. To make up for their eyes, they can turn their heads 180 degrees! That means owls can turn their heads to look directly behind them. Owls are five to 28 inches in length, with wingspans from one to 6.6 feet. They fly very quietly, which makes them hard for people to find.
 Owls eat mostly small animals like mice, but some eat insects as well. Fish owls eat fish along with mice, and bay owls have been know to hunt for bats. Owls swallow their prey whole, then cough up things that they cannot digest, like fur and bones, in compacted pellets.
Owls live in many different places, even in deserts! They make nests in holes in cliffs, trees and buildings. Bigger owls sometimes use the abandoned nests of hawks and crows.
Ashley Genova is a contributing writer from Fayetteville, NC. Sources: Britannica Encyclopedia Online.
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