some barn owls picture

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Why are owls considered wise?

People have associated owls with wisdom since before recorded history.  Curiously, this belief evolved separately in several different cultures. Owls, as night birds, are shrouded in mystery and are apt to become depositories for superstitions, just as nightjars and bats have.  Most of the original beliefs linked owls to evil-- over time the beliefs evolved and it became a foreteller of death, a bringer of ill omens, a bird of prophecy, and finally achieved a connotation with wisdom. There are a few other odds and ends that may have helped the symbolism-- The goddess Athena controlled wisdom and darkness- her symbol was the owl. Owls have extremely large eyes, which could make them seem "all-seeing" Owls come and go mysteriously-- their ways were largely unknown to humans up until the last couple of centuries.  It may have been assumed that because of this owls possessed some kind of knowledge we did not. Darkness blinds humans, but it is the owl's element-- thi...
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What are some interesting facts about owls?

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There are two main families of owls,  Tytonidae  and  Strigidae. Tytonidae  is the family of barn owls, composed of twenty species, most of which have heart-shaped faces and black eyes (Barn Owls, Masked Owls, Grass Owls, Sooty Owls, and Bay Owls which are a separate genus).  Strigidae  includes all other species of owls, 220 species. They look like ghosts, don’t they? I think they’re beautiful. Owls’ facial disks are designed to funnel sound to their ears, which are asymmetric. This makes their hearing especially acute. Owls became associated with wisdom for two reasons—one is that their large eyes make them look wise (which is ironic since their large eyes leave less room for their brains), and the other reason is that they were associated with Athena, the goddess of wisdom. This association comes from the sheer amount of Little Owls  (Athene noctua— great name, right?) in Athens. Like cats and ravens, folklore around owls is very m...
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